What Comes Next
by sallyro
Summary: 35 yrs post BD, the Cullens are back in HS and they always love a good prank. But what happens when Bella makes a new friend? Who and what is Emma? Alice can't see her future; Edward can't read her mind; Jasper can't feel her emotions: Can she be trusted?
1. New School

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all; I own nothing.

EPOV

I sighed heavily. Another new town, another new school, another four years in purgatory with hundreds of new thoughts to listen to. I couldn't hear them yet, of course – we still had another half hour before we had to leave for school – but I already knew what they would be. After all, I'd heard them all before. Some would be jealous, some resentful, some scared or awed or scandalized, and most of them would also be lustful. Now and then we would come across a kindhearted soul who was simply curious, nothing more. These minds, I had learned, were few and far between, and when I found one, I cherished it. Angela Weber had been one of those. Even after all these years, I knew Bella still missed her friend, and truthfully, I did too.

It had been more than three decades – and nine high schools (this one would make ten) – since I had first had to deal with the fantasies high school boys concocted about my wife. Of course, the first time I went through high school with Bella, she wasn't my wife, but she had still been _mine_. Seven times now I had endured high school with my daughter by my side as well. Hearing boys' thoughts about Nessie was excruciating. I don't think I could say one experience was worse than the other – listening to fantasies about my wife or fantasies about my daughter – they were both intolerable, but in different ways. Bella would shield me from the thoughts of others whenever I asked her to, but I rarely asked her to, because although I often complained about the downsides of my mind-reading ability, it made me nervous to go without it. I was used to navigating the world with my extra sense; when I was deprived of it, I felt off-kilter, unbalanced. Bella and Nessie understood my problem and did their best to put up with my overreactions and overprotectiveness, but all too often I took things too far and ended up on the receiving end of their not inconsiderable anger. Jacob, my daughter's husband, was more understanding of my predicament than anyone else in my family. Though he looked no younger than 23 – and an extremely young 23 at that – we still let him enroll in high school with the rest of us, since it was unbearable for him to be away from Nessie all day; it was unbearable for her as well, and none of us could deny my daughter anything she desired. We had concocted a story about how he had been held back a few years, and we told people he looked old for his age. Lately it was becoming easier to pass him off as a high school boy, since humans had started to mature much more quickly than before. Carlisle had explained to me that it had to do with toxins and hormones in the water supply; girls were even starting to get their periods at 10 or 11 now. This also meant that the rest of us could pass for younger than we were as well, and so for the last decade we had all – even Emmett, Rose and Jasper – been enrolling as freshmen when we started high school. It made our family history a little more complex, since we were all now the same age, but luckily for us, the huge number of people who had turned to fertility treatments also led to an increase in the number of fraternal twins and triplets. And so Emmett, Bella and Alice were triplets, Esme's nephew and nieces, whom Esme and Carlisle had taken in after Esme's sister was killed; Rose and Jasper were twins, adopted by Carlisle and Esme; Ness and I were twins; and Jake was the son of a good friend of Carlisle's – Jake's father died in a boating accident and his will appointed Carlisle as guardian of his son, thus Jacob came to live with us. We all took the name Cullen at school – it was easier that way.

Jake was comforted by my protective stance over Nessie and Bella, and he always approved of anything I did in the name of his wife's or his mother-in-law's honor. My brother Jasper always did his best to calm my emotions when he felt me getting agitated; his wife, Alice, with her ability to see the future, always knew what I would do the moment I decided to do it, but she rarely sympathized with me, since she knew nothing could ever take Bella from me or Nessie from Jacob. My two other siblings, Emmett and Rosalie, both enjoyed laughing at me, though Emmett's amusement was always good-natured, while Rosalie's was tinged with bitterness: She couldn't understand why I wouldn't get over myself (her words) and let things go, and she always feared that I would expose us, forcing another move. Carlisle and Esme, my parents for all intents and purposes, did their best to stay objective, but in the end, though they tried to be sympathetic, they, too, always found my frustration comical.

The truth was that my wife and daughter could both take care of themselves easily and effectively; they didn't need my help with anything, and I knew it. But that didn't change the fact that, given whom I was, and given the fact that I was born at the turn of the century when women were, by definition, helpless, I always felt compelled to act on their behalf. Of course, the fact that I could hear other people's thoughts complicated things: I often reacted to things I heard rather than things that actually happened. Over time, we had come to a sort of compromise: I was allowed to overreact — within reason — and they were allowed to make fun of me for it. It worked out well for all of us. Even with my considerable pride (yes, I could admit that I was prideful), I could handle the ribbing they all gave me in good (enough) spirits, so long as I was allowed to set out boundaries around my wife and daughter. And they seemed happy enough to let me set those boundaries, so long as they could mock me afterwards.

A half hour later we were all milling about in the kitchen, watching Nessie and Jake finish their breakfast. Given our vampire speed, we all could have remained in our rooms enjoying our spouses until a few minutes before we had to leave, but in the mornings before we went to school, we enjoyed coming together as a family, acting out the pantomime of normalcy that we would have to engage in once we were among humans. It made it easier if we started pretending early. None of us needed to eat human food, but we all gathered round the table to watch Jake and Ness eat their breakfast – though neither of them really needed to eat human food either, and they both preferred to hunt their meals. However Esme loved to cook, and neither Jake nor Nessie ever turned down food of any kind – their appetites were a source of amusement for the rest of us, especially since the human food they ate always smelled so revolting.

Sitting around the table, we chattered mindlessly about the new school, the new town, what we were expecting, what we were looking forward to, and what we were dreading. As usual, Bella was excited and hopeful about the prospect of a new town and a new school, though as usual she was nervous about meeting new people. I was still awed by how many of her human traits she had retained after entering her vampire life. Nessie, like her mother, was excited, but not at all nervous; she never had trouble making new friends. Jake, too, found it easy to make friends, but he was a bit more apprehensive than Nessie, since he always struggled with the reactions that other high school boys had to his wife, my daughter. I couldn't blame him. We exchanged knowing, sympathetic glances as Bella and Nessie chattered excitedly about what they were looking forward to on their first day. Emmett and Rose were thoroughly absorbed in each other, as usual, and paid little attention to any of the conversations happening around them. They hadn't given much thought to starting at a new school, although Emmett was thinking about how much fun he was going to have picking fights with the boys who hit on Rosalie. Alice was concentrating on the future, on what she saw happening today, and tomorrow, this week, and this month. Jasper was trying to keep everyone calm and happy, and doing a very good job of it. His relief that his bloodlust was no longer a challenge gave his thoughts a buoyancy that we all enjoyed. It had been several decades now since Jasper had truly been tempted by human blood, and his exaltation at being freed from that constant temptation never lessened; he was as thrilled today as he had been the first time he realized that he was no longer tormented by his bloodlust, that he was no longer a danger to humans or to his family, and the delight he radiated was a wonderful boost for the rest of us.

When it was time to go, Alice made us line up so she could give her final stamp of approval to each of our appearances. She had picked out all of our outfits and accessories, of course, but she liked to make sure that we hadn't decided to make changes to her work. Bella always got the most careful examination from Alice, since of all of us, my wife liked her designer clothes the least and often tried to dial down the glamour of the outfits Alice put together for her, removing bracelets or necklaces or scarves or even – on one dreadful occasion – replacing the Prada blouse Alice had supplied with a vintage Rolling Stones T-shirt. The fight that ensued when Alice discovered what she termed "Bella's betrayal" was epic; none of us had made it to school that day. For three years after that incident Alice had taken it upon herself to physically dress Bella every morning, no longer trusting my wife to dress herself in the clothes she was given and no longer trusting me to see that she obeyed Alice's instructions. Even after she stopped dressing Bella each morning, Alice continued to monitor my wife's clothing choices as vigilantly as she monitored the Volturi's activities. After the "T-shirt incident" (as the rest of us referred to "Bella's betrayal") and its repercussions, Bella had begun to soften, giving in much more easily when Alice wanted to take her shopping or dress her up. I think she realized that it was easier to let Alice have her way, and we were all grateful that Bella had given up resisting. Small though she was, Alice was a force to be reckoned with.

After we all passed inspection – Alice had, of course, made a few adjustments, fiddling with the collar of Emmett's shirt, swapping out Jacob's shoes, and rewrapping Bella's scarf so that it draped "right" – we piled into our cars: Bella, Nessie, Jake, Alice, Jasper and I got into the navy blue Navigator, and Rose and Emmett slid into the cherry red Maclaren. We had tried to talk Rose out of taking her new baby – the car redefined the word ostentatious – but she was insistent, and at the end of the day, none of us wanted an angry Rosalie on our hands.

As we pulled into the parking lot at Kennedy High, the students who were clustered in groups, greeting each other after their summers apart, all turned to stare. Allen, Maine, was not an affluent town, and the Navigator was drawing incredulous, jealous stares from the teenagers who were hanging around the parking lot. Those stares were nothing compared to the looks on their faces when Rosalie and Emmett pulled into the space next to us in the Maclaren moments later. I groaned. As usual, my vain and stubborn sister was calling unwanted attention to us for no reason other than to satisfy her own selfish desires. I squeezed Bella's hand and she turned to me, her eyebrows raised questioningly. She was asking if I wanted her to shield me from the thoughts swirling around us. After so many years together, we had perfected the art of silent communication, even though I still couldn't read her mind unless she let me. I shook my head quickly and opened the door, slipping out of my seat and then turning to offer my hand to help her out of the car, and she took it, stepping down lightly and leaning into me as if to keep her balance, though of course, she really didn't need to. We slung our bags over our shoulders and made our way to the back of the car where our family was gathering. We could all hear the whispers of the students around us. We were the most exciting thing to happen in the town of Allen in decades. It was a small town and everyone knew there was a new family that had moved in and that there would be new students at school.

"That's them?" I heard a small red-headed girl say to her friend, her voice full of disbelief. "They're beautiful."

A blond boy in a Harvard sweatshirt commented on our cars, noting that he had never seen a Maclaren in real life before. The popular kids, the jocks and cheerleaders, were sizing us up, trying to figure out if we were worthy of joining their clique. I almost laughed; no matter how many times I went through high school, some things never changed. Soon enough the popular crowd would realize that even if they decided to extend an invitation, we wanted to have nothing to do with them. All around the parking lot I could hear kids whispering about how gorgeous all the girls were and boys trying to figure out which one of the girls was the most beautiful. As usual, the girls in the parking lot were trying to play it cool. They were stunned by how beautiful the Cullens were, and they were trying to fight back the jealousy they felt toward the girls and determine which of the boys they would pursue, while trying not to betray any of their emotions. There were a couple of brazen girls who were declaring their intentions aloud: One had set her sights on Jasper and another was after me. But for the most part, as always, the girls preferred to keep their thoughts and emotions to themselves – though of course, with my ability, they had no secrets from me. The boys of Kennedy High, however, were making no effort to keep their intentions to themselves. I knew that Jasper, Emmett and Jake knew just as well as I did which boys were after their girls. Teenage boys rarely made an effort to be subtle.

Jasper sighed, assaulted by the waves of emotion that hit him. Lust, jealousy, resentment, curiosity. He'd felt them all before, but it never got easier. I looked over at him sympathetically.

"So, what's the scoop?" Emmett asked, looking at me. We could all hear what they were saying aloud, of course, but only I could hear what they were thinking.

"Same old thing. You can hear it as well as I can, Em."

"Come on, don't be like that, Edward! You're no fun. You know I like to get the dirty details." He laughed, grasping Rose around the waist. "I need to know what they're thinking about my woman so I can figure out who to torture." Emmett never minded what other men thought about Rose. In fact, I think they both found the attention other people paid to their mate to be a turn-on. They also both enjoyed toying with any poor souls who seriously entertained ideas of being with either one of them.

"Okay fine." I closed my eyes and listened more closely to the din around me. _That brunette! Oh my God! She's gorgeous…_ I grimaced and shifted my focus. _He looks Native American. I wonder…_ I didn't need to hear any more of that. _Oh my god, the brunette in the blue sweater, I've never seen a girl that stunning. I hope I have a class with her. Annie's cool and all, but she's nothing next to THAT. I can't wait to get her in…_ I flinched, pulling out of the boy's thoughts before they went further. I looked up at my family. Bella, Alice and Nessie were all brunettes, and I hoped that he hadn't been thinking about my daughter…but no, of course, he was thinking about my wife. _Bastard. Damn it.._. My gaze fell on Bella, looking at me lovingly, her brown hair falling softly around her shoulders, contrasting so prettily with the deep blue shade of her silk shirt. She raised her eyebrows, wanting to make sure I was in control, and I checked myself. After taking a deep breath, I smiled back at her, to let her know I was okay, before venturing back into the minds of the students around me. _ So they're all siblings? But why do they look like they're TOGETHER then? I mean, that's not legal, right?..._ I groaned, searching the thoughts around us for what I was looking for. And finally…_ I didn't know they made them like that. Shit! She is SO fucking HOT. God Damn! I always love me a blonde, but this one... My God! Look at those lips. You just know she loves giving--- _That was enough. I had what I needed and I really didn't want to hear any more. I opened my eyes to pinpoint the boy I'd been listening to. He was standing a few cars over from us, wearing a varsity jacket. Of course, he would be a football player. "You can start with him," I told Emmett at vampire speed, moving my eyes toward the boy in question. "He thinks Rose must be very talented with…well, her…mouth," I said, and if a blush could have colored my cheeks, it would have. Who wants to talk about their sister doing _that_?

But Emmett clapped his hands happily, looking at Rose. He wasn't embarrassed in the least, and nor was she. "Well, she definitely is, brother!" he exclaimed loudly, winking at me. "But he's not gonna find that out firsthand, is he? What do you say Rosie, wanna go find ourselves some trouble?" She nodded, grinning broadly, and slipped her hand into his back pocket before turning toward the football player with her lips curved into a seductive smile. I saw the football player's eyes widen and I could hear his heart begin to race as he took in her gaze at the same time as he noticed her and Emmett's interlaced arms. I almost laughed as I heard the confusion that swept across his mind. But he didn't stay confused for long; thanks to his considerable ego, he quickly decided that Rosalie wanted _him,_ and that she would soon break up with Emmett to be with him. He was running through the different things he would do to help her make that decision, and even deciding where he'd take her on their first date. I gulped back a chuckle. He was in for a long wait, and any sympathy I had for him disappeared once his thoughts about their date progressed and I heard the lewd thoughts that were running through his mind.

"So, shall we?" Alice said brightly after we watched Emmett and Rosalie parade past the football player. "I can't wait to start school again!" She was genuinely excited. Alice was one of the happiest, most optimistic people I'd ever known.

"Sure, sure. Let's do this then," Jacob said, placing his arm possessively around my daughter's shoulders. A couple of decades ago this would have pained me; now, I was used to it. Truth be told, I was grateful for it. When Renesmee was about 4 years old, I had finally – with Bella's help – come to terms with the fact that my daughter would eventually grow up and fall in love. And after watching – and listening to – the various teenage boys who tried to gain her affections at the different high schools we attended, I had come to the conclusion that there was no one I would rather have her fall in love with than Jacob Black. He was a good and kind man, through and through, and he worshipped Renesmee above all else. I knew he would keep her safe, treat her well, never leave her. Of course, my opinion didn't really matter: Neither of them ever had eyes for anyone else, and their love was an unstoppable force. But everyone was relieved when I had given their union my blessing. I now accepted Jacob as family, because he was; he was one of us, and he would be with us – with Renesmee – for eternity, and for that I was grateful. Even more surprising was the friendship that I had developed with my son-in-law. We shared a genuine affection for each other, which delighted our wives, and each year our friendship deepened.

My family began filing toward the building's entrance, first Jacob and Nessie, their arms firmly around each other's waists, then Alice and Jasper, hands clasped and eyes turned toward each other. Bella took a step forward and turned to me, beckoning with her eyes and holding out her hand, palm upturned.

"I'm coming, my love," I said, in response to her wordless question.

A/N: My first fanfic! Please R&R - is it good, bad, want to rip my fingers off? Let me know!


	2. Alexandra

EPOV

Emmett and Rose were waiting for us outside of the administration office. Any one of us could charm the principal's secretary, of course, but over the years we found that I did it best. I think it was because Emmett and Jake were both so large that humans were taken aback and a little intimidated by them, while Jasper appeared menacing despite his newfound freedom from the bloodlust – his face and his attitude reflected his decades of experience in the Southern wars, and humans subconsciously processed the fact that he was a predator – though, of course, he now only preyed on animals. Rose, Alice, Bella and Nessie could all be charming as well, but it was safer to allow me to "dazzle" the secretary on the first day rather than risk the possible negative reaction she could have if she was jealous or resentful of the girls' undeniable beauty. A few schools back, Bella had insisted on being our spokesperson on the first day of school, and the result had been disastrous. Bella had been charming, but the secretary had been so bitter and angry that she had arranged all of our schedules so that none of the girls had classes the boys, and she had stalked the girls all year so that she never missed a chance to write them up for tardiness, inappropriate attire, indecent behavior (of course, these inappropriate behavior citations were always for public displays of affection, and none of us boys ever got written up), or anything else she could come up with. The situation had been so unpleasant that after that first year Carlisle allowed us all to transfer to the private school in town. He and Esme both grew sick and tired of listening to us complain about spending all day separated from our mates. So I was the official spokesperson on our first day. Eventually, the secretary – and the rest of the teachers and administrators – would become very fond of all of us, but it helped if we started off with a home run.

"Hello, Mrs. Danner," I said, making my voice as silky as possible. "I'm Edward Cullen, and these are my siblings. This is our first day here."

"Oh, hello, Edward," Mrs. Danner said pleasantly, managing to keep her voice steady, although her heartbeat betrayed her emotions. I tuned into her thoughts. _Goodness! I knew they were coming, but who knew they would all be so attractive. Of course, we all wondered about it when we heard how many of them there were, and all in the same grade, as well. But of course, it all made sense once Principal Jane explained the circumstances. _My thoughts flitted back to the cover story Carlisle had given us all. Ah, yes. Emmett, Bella and Alice were Esme's nephew and nieces, whom she had taken in after their mother had been killed. Their mother had been part of a cult and had been killed when she had tried to leave. Esme and Carlisle had been so distraught by the events that led to her sister's death that they had taken in two other sets of siblings – Rose and Jasper, twins, Nessie and me, twins – born into the cult. Jacob had joined us later, after his father, a friend of Carlisle's, had been killed in a boating accident. The story was complex, but once we introduced the idea of a cult, people tended not to question it further._ But they are all just so…beautiful. And they really look so much alike. I know some of them are related, but I wonder…Of course, given that it was a cult, perhaps they all had the same father. Poor children. I wonder how they are adjusting. I don't recall if Principal Jane said how long ago they'd been rescued from that situation._ "I expect you've come for your schedules?"

"Yes, thank you Mrs. Danner." I fixed her with my softest gaze and listened to her heartbeat gallop. She gawked up at me and I smiled back at her. We were silent for a moment, and then, finally, she remembered herself and looked down at her desk, shuffling papers around in embarrassment. I felt sorry for her, but this was necessary. We would be missing school often, and though Carlisle's excuses went a long way, it never hurt to have an ally in the administration. I fought back against the sympathy I was feeling for her and treated her to another incendiary stare. I wondered what Bella was thinking right now; she had been appalled at the way I had "dazzled" the women we encountered when she was human, and I hadn't been trying to "dazzle" anyone then. Would my wife be dazzled by what I was doing now? Or would she be angry at the way I was manipulating the poor woman in front of me? Probably the latter, I thought. But maybe, just maybe, she would also be a little bit dazzled. After all, she understood why my efforts were necessary. We all knew how important it was that our absences be excused and accepted by the faculty and administration. We could not – EVER – be seen in the sunlight.

"I have your schedules right here, Edward. Why don't you all look over them and make sure we've gotten everything right." She was so helpful. Of course, I knew they would not have gotten everything right. I had a fair amount of manipulation to do before our schedules were "right," since I would have to make sure that each of us had at least three classes with our mates.

Mrs. Danner proved to be very obliging. It only took fifteen minutes before we were all on our way to class with the schedules we desired. I had my first class with Emmett and Jasper, but the next two I had with Bella, then lunch with everyone, then American history with Nessie, then one more with Bella – French Literature – and finally Spanish II with Jake and Alice. We were all arriving late to our classes, and although we had passes and would not be punished, I knew Bella would hate the extra attention she would earn walking into class ten minutes after the bell had rung. I searched the thoughts in the classrooms around me hoping to pick up a trace of my wife. I knew she would have her shield up right now; she never liked to let me see how nervous she got when we started at a new school. Well, that was part of it. She really didn't like me to see when she was nervous, but she also didn't want me to see when the boys in her classes hit on her. Of course, all I had to do was scan the thoughts around me until I heard her name or saw her face – or her body. She knew that, but she didn't like to encourage me. These boys didn't know any better, she said, and she was right, of course, but I didn't have to like it and it didn't stop me from listening.

Emmett, Jasper and I settled into our seats in our Ethics class, and I tuned into the thoughts in the classrooms around us. Since we had arrived late, I knew the teacher, Mr. Brown, wouldn't call on us. He had asked us to introduce ourselves to the class and given us our text books, but for today, he would leave us alone. I could hear the students around us – the girls were enamored, the boys indignant – but I shut them out and scanned for thoughts about my wife. And it didn't take long. _Bella. What a perfect name for such a pretty girl. _I almost snorted – Bella was definitely not just "pretty," she was stunning, gorgeous, beautiful. But humans, they could never see the whole picture. _She's one of them, I'm sure. I knew they were coming, Mom said there were eight of them. I wonder if they all look like her. Of course they won't – Mom said they were adopted. But wow, she's so beautiful. Alexandra's going to be so pissed when she finds out she's not the prettiest girl in school anymore. Hah! I've got to be there when she gets a glimpse of Bella. That's gonna be great. I bet Scott asks her out this week. That'll really piss Alexandra off. If she wasn't such a bitch I'd almost feel sorry for her. I mean, she doesn't have a chance. _I made a mental note to look out for this Alexandra. It sounded like she was going to make Bella's life unpleasant. I searched the other thoughts in my wife's classroom to see what I could pick up. _I wonder what she's like. I mean, looking like that, she's probably pretty bitchy. But then again, her family's story is so sad, maybe she's not like that? I mean, she hasn't gone to high school before this, from what I've heard. And she looks really nice. I think she smiled at me before when she caught me looking at her. _I had no doubt that Bella had smiled at this girl, whomever she was. That was my Bella, always kind and friendly. I smiled in satisfaction and let my thoughts wander to another student in the class. _God, she is gorgeous. Well, both of them are gorgeous. But I prefer brunettes. Not that I'd kick the blonde out of bed, of course. But that brunette…what did she say her name was? Oh yeah, Bella. Bella. Wow. I've gotta ask her out. I wonder if it's too soon to ask her out this afternoon. Probably. I mean, I've got a reputation to protect. I don't want my boys thinking I've gone soft. Which, of course, I haven't. But I can still talk to her today. Introduce myself. Her family seems really tight-knit. I wonder if they'll all sit together at lunch. Maybe I'll ask her to sit with me. I'm sure she's probably dying to break away from her family, after all. _ I snorted back a laugh and Jasper elbowed me in the ribs. I looked over at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Come on, man. I know it's got to be fun for you to watch, but you have to put up a better front. You're going to get us busted," he said at vampire speed. He wasn't really angry – no one had noticed my outburst, after all, well, no one except him and Emmett. I figured he was just jealous that he couldn't listen in on Alice's classes the way I could listen in on Bella's. I nodded briefly at him and quickly tuned back into the boy's thoughts about my Bella so that I could identify him. Tate Mickle. Once I had his name I diverted my thoughts away from Bella's classmates' – I wanted to keep listening in, but I knew my brothers wouldn't let me get away with it – and tried to pay attention to Mr. Brown's lecture. Now I had two people to look out for: Tate Mickle and Alexandra – I still didn't know her last name, but I knew enough about high school and popular high school girls to be confident that I'd be able to identify her when I came across her thoughts.

I didn't have to wait long. It turned out that Alexandra was in my next class – English – which I shared with Bella and Alice as well. Alice smiled smugly at me as she walked into the classroom with Bella, but Bella sat down next to me with an innocent smile, and I guessed that although Alice had had a vision, she hadn't told Bella anything. I reached over and squeezed my wife's hand, and she looked over to me as she squeezed back, her eyes full of love. I wondered briefly why Alice hadn't told her what to expect in this class, but I was interrupted by Alexandra's entrance – indeed, everything was interrupted by Alexandra's entrance.

A/N: My first fanfic - please R&R: Good, bad, tear my fingers off so I can't write any more ? Let me know. Thanks!


	3. Alice's Plan

BPOV

We were only halfway through first period when Alice had her vision. I knew it had to be about me, and most likely about me and Edward, since she refused to share it with me. If it was anything important, or about anyone else, Alice would have told me what she'd seen. Now she was practically vibrating with excitement as we walked to our seats in our second period class – English. Edward had already taken a desk in the back and saved two next to him for us. As we walked down the aisle I watched him take in Alice's expression and roll his eyes at her. She shrugged, the smug smile she'd been wearing for the last half-hour still firmly in place. Edward squeezed my hand.

I knew he'd have searched her mind for the vision as soon as he'd seen us, and she wouldn't have bothered to block him from it; Edward was always more likely to play along ("more malleable," was how Alice put it) when he knew what to expect. I was about to lift my shield and ask him what Alice had seen, but before I had time to, Alice elbowed me and nodded to the doorway. I didn't see what the big deal was…at first. We heard her before we saw her. She was talking on her cell phone as she walked down the hall. Just when she reached the door to our classroom, a short boy walking in front of her dropped his pen and bent to pick it up. Absorbed as she was in her conversation, she didn't notice what was happening right in front of her, and she walked right into him, stumbling and dropping her phone. The boy apologized quickly, picking up her phone to hand it back to her, but she wasn't going to let it go at that.

"Are you fucking stupid?" she asked scathingly, snatching her phone from his hand as if he'd been trying to steal it. "Hang on, I've got to deal with this dumbass who just tripped me," she said into the phone. She looked down at the boy with an icy stare. He was still stammering out apologies. "Shut the hell up and go away. And make sure you stay the hell out of my way from now on." With that, she resumed her conversation and walked into the classroom.

"Well, that was unpleasant," I said softly. Alice nodded, giggling a little.

"_She_ is unpleasant," Edward murmured, watching her as he read her thoughts. "Really unpleasant. One of the meanest we've had the pleasure of going to school with, and that's saying something." It really was saying something. Edward had been to a lot of schools with a lot of students.

"Just wait," Alice said, giggling again. I didn't see what could be funny about this malicious girl. I looked up at her. She was attractive, with blonde hair and blue eyes and a good figure, and she obviously knew it, since she was dressed to play up her best features. She was wearing a snug, low-cut baby blue sweater that matched the color of her eyes and revealed a bit too much cleavage for a daytime, school-appropriate outfit, tight jeans that rode low on her hips, exposing a little bit of her stomach, and platform shoes that added a good six inches to her height. Her hair was styled within an inch of its life, and her makeup looked like it had taken at least an hour. She continued chatting loudly on her cell phone as she stood at the front of the class – all the better to make everyone look up and notice her, of course.

"Okay, gotta go, girlie. Big kiss. See you at lunch." After sliding her phone into her bag she looked around the room with a bored expression, trying to decide where to sit while letting us all know how much better than us she was. And that was when I realized what Alice must have seen. Just then her eyes fell on Edward, and even though I wasn't a mind-reader, I knew exactly what she was thinking. I often thought the same thing, after all: He was the most beautiful creature in the world. Her eyes went wide and I swear she let out a gasp. Slowly her lips curved into a satisfied smile as she continued to stare at him. She started walking down the aisle toward us, still staring at Edward, and I held my breath, wondering where this was headed. It couldn't be too bad, or Alice would have warned us. She sashayed toward us, swinging her hips. This was clearly a girl who expected everything to go her way and always got everything she wanted. And now she wanted Edward. And she would expect him to want her, because really, every boy in school probably wanted her.

She was still a few desks away from us when her eyes shifted over to me, and again, I didn't need Edward's power to follow the direction of her thoughts – they played out clearly across her face. She looked me over, assessing, then dismissing me, then looked back to Edward. I guessed that he was looking at me, since her eyes darted back to me with renewed curiosity when she caught the direction of his gaze, and finally, as she appreciated the quality of his gaze, hatred. Ah yes. I'd been here before. I groaned inwardly, sliding down in my seat and looking at my notebook as the girl's eyes bore into me. I didn't like being the center of attention, and I really didn't like being the object of the kind of attention I was getting from this girl. I looked down at my own outfit, grateful that I had Alice to dress me. I'd never let on, but I had really grown to enjoy letting her dress me up. It helped that she had finally accepted the differences between my sense of style and her own. I was no longer uncomfortable in designer clothes, so long as they weren't too flashy. I was more conservative than Rose and less trendy than Alice. Today I was wearing dark-wash skinny jeans, tall brown leather boots and a fitted blue silk shirt. My scarf and jacket were in my locker, though I knew Alice would have preferred I kept them on, since they "completed the look." I still didn't like being the center of attention, but I found that it was easier to handle when I wasn't worried about what I was wearing or what my hair looked like. Now, for example: This girl could stare at me all she wanted, but I knew my appearance was flawless.

"Hello," Alice chirped as the girl slid into a seat in the row ahead of us. "I'm Alice. This is Bella and that's Edward. We're all new here."

"Hi," the girl said hesitantly, turning to look at Alice for the first time. She was trying to figure out what to make of us. My sister's cheerful greeting obviously confused her; I guessed that she wasn't used to people talking to her until she given them permission to do so. Alice was enjoying the girl's discomfort and plowed forward mercilessly.

"What's your name?" she asked, smiling brightly.

"I'm Alexandra," the girl said haughtily, recovering her attitude. Her eyes wandered back to Edward – she ignored me completely – and she softened her tone. "Edward, was it? It's nice to meet you."

"And you," he said shortly. She twirled a lock of hair around her finger idly, looking up at him from under her lashes. I lifted my shield again. _God, how obvious! Does that really work for her? _

"So, Edward, where did you move here from?" She was practically purring now, and I was starting to get frustrated. I didn't enjoy watching anyone throw themselves at my husband, and I really didn't appreciate the fact that this awful girl was convinced that she would be irresistible to him. She didn't know he was my husband, of course, and I had let go of his hand before she saw us, so she had no reason to think we were together at all. I was about to correct that situation by reaching for his hand, and he had obviously had the same thought, because I saw his hand move toward mine, but Alice stopped us.

"Wait, if you let it go for a little while, we can really have fun with this. I've seen it," she said, too quickly and quietly for the girl to hear. Edward grinned, cocking an eyebrow at me to see what I thought. Normally I didn't like tormenting humans unnecessarily, but this girl's performance in the hallway made me angry. I smiled, giving a small nod and Alice clapped her hands delightedly. Alexandra looked over at her, disdainfully.

"What?" she said rudely.

"Oh, nothing, I just remembered I left my book in my locker. Bella, will you come with me to get it?" she smiled at me sweetly and winked at Edward as she stood up. _Do a good job,_ I thought at him with my shield up. _I don't like this girl._ He raised his eyes and dropped them to the desk, his way of nodding at my thoughts. The classroom had filled up but we still had five minutes before the bell rang – and probably another five or ten after that before class started. Most teachers allowed extra time on the first day for everyone to find their way to their classrooms. I looked back at Edward as we got to the door and laughed out loud. He worked fast. He was smiling warmly at Alexandra, and she had leaned over the back of her chair, resting her elbows on his desk – clearly trying to maximize his view of her cleavage.

"Shh." Alice elbowed me. "Don't screw it up." But Alexandra hadn't heard me. She was too transfixed by my handsome husband to notice anything else.

"So," I said to my sister as we wandered down the hall. "What's next?"

"Well, it's a five-stage plan," Alice began, rubbing her hands together. "We're going to need Jasper and we're also going to need Nessie. Oh, hmm…" she trailed off, letting her eyes unfocus as she scanned the future. "Well, I don't think Nessie's going to enjoy her role, and you and Edward probably won't love it either, but it'll really work better if you guys agree to go along with it. I mean, I can see another possibility, and…" She looked once more at the different outcomes. "Well, they're both good. But really it will be so much better if Nessie participates. I have class with her next period, so I'll run it by her."

"As long as she's up for it, I'll go along. Wait, I take that back. Just what exactly is Nessie going to do?"

"Well, remember back in Portland when Nessie and Jake came home early from hunting and—"

"Remember? Of course I remember. I wish I could forget. I think we all wish we could forget." I groaned as I realized what Alice was planning.

"I know, I know," she said quickly. "But listen, let me at least lay out the plan for you. It's really so much better when you hear it in context. And it's not like she doesn't already have the images in her head. All she has to do is send them out when…well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Okay, so stage one, obviously, is what Edward's doing right now. And we're going to let him," she said sternly when I growled at the thought of Edward flirting with Alexandra. "Bella, you're going to let him."

"Yeah, I know, I'm going to let him. I don't have to like it, though. You wouldn't like it if it was Jasper."

"Oh, Bella. It has been Jasper before, you know that. Remember in Seattle, and then in New Hampshire? And there was that time in Minnesota." She smiled serenely at me. "And I played along every time. Just like you're going to play along now. So, stage one is in effect. It's really not going to take much. This girl, she's so sure of herself. Now Jasper's in her next class, so once Edward does his bit and gets her focused on him, Jazz will start hitting her with some good old-fashioned lust, get her to start fantasizing. There's an assembly after lunch today, an orientation kind of thing, and she's going to ask Edward if he wants to skip out and go into town for lunch with her. Like I said, this girl's pretty sure of herself. And Edward is going to say yes…" She looked into the future again, and her expression grew wistful. "Oh, oh! There's a party this weekend. If we drag it out till then it would be so awesome because she would—"

"NO WAY, Alice," I said, a little too loudly. "I agreed to play along, but I am not going a whole week without being able to kiss my husband for eight hours of the day. And there's no way Edward will agree to that either." She must have seen the reaction he was going to have if she suggested this to him, because her gaze refocused and she shook her head sadly.

"You're right, he won't agree to it. That's okay, we'll do the whole thing today. It's still going to be awesome."

"Okay, so Edward is stage one, Jasper's got stage two. What's stage three?" I asked, and she smiled evilly.

"Stage three is SO good, Bella."

**A/N: So, yeah, they're having a little fun on the first day. The prank is going to play out over the next two chapters, and then we're on to Bella's mysterious new friend. So what do you think? Good, bad, terrible? Please r&r.**


	4. Stage 1

EPOV

I didn't usually enjoy these games that the rest of my family – except for Bella –liked to play with the humans who made themselves nuisances to us. I enjoyed it even less when Bella and I were the main players in a prank. When one of the other couples – even if it was Nessie and Jacob – chose to mess with people's heads, I could handle it; then, at least, I didn't have to flirt with anyone else or watch anyone flirt with my wife. Sometimes, I have to admit, it was fun to put our talents to use for something other than fighting sadistic vampires and saving our own lives. I might not enjoy it as much as everyone else did, but I could understand why my family insisted on these light-hearted pranks. We spent so much of our lives protecting ourselves from danger and keeping our secret that it was important to play and laugh and have fun when we had the chance. And we never picked on anyone who didn't have it coming. This girl, Alexandra, she had it coming. I didn't mind messing with her head. She actually reminded me somewhat of Lauren Mallory; her thoughts were just as vicious, and like Lauren Mallory, Alexandra had no sympathy for her victims or remorse for her actions. She needed to be taught a lesson. In addition, as it turned out, I hardly had to flirt with her at all. She was so arrogant that all I needed to do was make eye contact with her or pay minimal attention to what she said, and she believed that I was head-over-heels in love with her. The fantasies that flooded her mind about how I would declare my love and what we would do on our first date almost made me laugh out loud several times during our class. But I did my best to contain my amusement and keep up the charade, knowing that the rest of my family was counting on me. And Bella was counting on me.

Her thoughts about Bella had been wary and hostile at first, for, although we hadn't been touching at all when she saw us together, the intimacy between my wife and me was so palpable that Alexandra had immediately jumped to the right conclusion: I was taken, by Bella. But Alexandra's considerable ego soon encouraged her to dismiss this idea. It was inconceivable to her that I would not be attracted to her. She had never met a boy she couldn't seduce, and she had firmly convinced herself that Bella's beauty was no match for her own. I didn't know whether to snarl or laugh at that thought – Bella's beauty didn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as this girl's appearance. They were galaxies apart. Bella was a goddess, my goddess. The only thing that outshone her exquisite physical beauty was the depth of her goodness, her kindness. Alexandra, on the other hand, well, she was a pretty girl who believed that her appearance entitled her to treat people as poorly as she wanted to. She wore revealing clothes and too much makeup in order to heighten her attractiveness, and she seemed to have learned all of her flirting techniques from reading _Cosmopolitan_. Throughout class, she repeatedly licked her lips, twirled her hair in her fingers, gazed at me from beneath her lashes, crossed and re-crossed her legs. She put her breasts on display, squeezing them together by resting her arms on either side of her chest. She touched me whenever an opportunity presented itself, and didn't seem to absorb the fact that not once had I returned the favor. It was laughably easy convincing Alexandra that I was interested in her. In fact, all I had to do was act like I didn't hate her, and she was bowled over. Even after Bella and Alice returned to the classroom, I managed to keep her convinced. Most people couldn't help but notice how attuned I was to my wife's every move, but not Alexandra. She was too absorbed in herself to notice that I was merely pantomiming paying attention to her, and she never bothered to look at Bella or Alice, so she never saw the amusement in their eyes as they watched us.

They were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Throughout the hour, I would hear one or both of them snicker whenever Alexandra did something particularly forward – which was often – and now and then one of them would comment mockingly, at a volume too low for humans to hear, on how well I was playing my part and how much they were looking forward to the dénouement that would come later today. Alice had filled me in on most of the details when she and Bella returned to class. There were a few aspects of her plan that she hadn't laid out in detail, and as much as I hated to be left in the dark, I knew she had her reasons. Whatever she was keeping from me was probably something – or some things – that I would refuse to participate in, and Alice had probably seen that. If she surprised me with them, I would go along, and the plan would play out as she'd envisioned it. Normally I hated walking blindly into any situation, but this was just a prank and I trusted Alice; no harm would come of her plan, and I would go along with it for everyone else's amusement. Chances were good, after all, that I would be amused as well – as long as nothing about the plan was hurtful to Bella or Nessie. I wondered if Nessie was going to agree to do what Alice wanted her to do, or if we would end up going with Alice's plan B. I wasn't sure what my daughter would decide. I knew what Alice was going to ask her to do, and I could read my daughter's thoughts, however, I often found Nessie as unpredictable as her mother.

It seemed an eternity passed before the bell rang signaling the end of class. It had only been an hour and five minutes, of course, and as an immortal, time went by much faster for me than it did for humans, but spending that time humoring and encouraging Alexandra's fantasies while I also had to listen to them playing out in her head had been agonizing. Not to mention that the entire time, I had been sitting next to Bella, listening to her breathe, watching her (in my peripheral vision most of the time), feeling the delight that overwhelmed me whenever she was near, but I hadn't been able to hold her, kiss her or touch her. I hadn't even been able to look directly at her for any length of time. Whenever I had gazed too long into Bella's eyes Alice had interrupted us with a cough or a sharp elbow into Bella's ribs. Of course, what Alice did was necessary; Bella and I often got wrapped up in each other and lost track of the rest of the world, and after each of Alice's warnings Alexandra had turned to look at me longingly. If she had caught me gazing longingly at Bella, our prank would have been dead in the water.

When the bell rang Alice and Bella gathered their things quickly, wanting to leave me alone with the blonde blight on humanity whom we had chosen to torture.

"What class do you have next?" Alexandra asked, in a throaty voice she imagined was seductive. It wasn't. It actually just made her sound like she was coming down with a chest cold.

"I have algebra," I said shortly, ignoring the glare Alice shot me from the doorway when she heard the hatred in my voice. It didn't matter, however; Alexandra hadn't noticed. She was as convinced as ever of my devotion to her.

"You have algebra? What a coincidence. I have third period math too." She beamed at me, and I grimaced at Bella and Alice, who were snickering as they watched me follow my new "crush" down the hallway. Of course, Bella was in the same math class – as was Jasper – but I needed to play my part and follow Alexandra, no matter how much I wanted to walk my wife to our next class. Alexandra linked her arm through mine practically paraded me down the hall, looking around gloatingly at the other students who stepped aside to watch us pass. I stared straight ahead, listening to the thoughts around us.

_God, he is so gorgeous. I mean, I saw him this morning from across the lot, but up close, he's even better. That hair is amazing. I wonder if it's as soft as it looks. _

_Oh wow, he's…well, I thought his brothers were handsome, but this one's my favorite._

_I don't see what the big deal is. He's not so great looking. The girls won't shut up about him, but I don't get it. Probably just because he's new. Fresh meat. They'll get over it. _

_Alexandra? He's crushing on Alexandra? It figures. All the guys crush on Alexandra. It's just so unfair. Such a goddamn bitch and she gets everything she wants._

_Huh, that's weird. I could have sworn this morning I saw him holding that brown-haired girl's hand. They looked like they were together. But now he's hitting on Alexandra. Maybe I just thought they were holding hands because all their siblings were paired up. All their siblings seem, like, really intense about each other. _I shifted my eyes to place the student whose thoughts I was listening to. She was a small, slender blonde standing to the side with a couple of friends. They were all whispering and giggling around her, but she seemed somewhat removed, more wrapped up in her own thoughts than in gossiping with her friends. I made a mental note to keep an eye – or rather an ear – out for her thoughts. She was certainly more observant than most teenagers, and we didn't need anyone observing us too closely.

_Ugh, not another one. I mean, I'm happy to welcome the new girls – they're all frigging hot – but why do they have to come with brothers? Pain in the ass. At least this one is interested in Alex. The other guys seemed like they were kind of paired off with the girls, like, more than just brothers. But if this guy's after Alex, that leaves one of those lovely ladies for me. I mean, come on, who else is she gonna date? I'm the hottest guy here. I wonder which one is single? They're all kind of mixed together in my head – can't remember who was paired off together. The blonde was amazing, like, PERFECT, but I kind of hope it's the one with the dark brown hair. Not that I'm that picky. But I'm just coming off of a blonde, after all. Always good to change things up. _He was talking about Bella, obviously. Alice's hair was black, and Nessie's was more red, a copperish brown. Bella's was the only hair that could be described as dark brown. I was about to look around to see whom I was listening to, but I didn't have to find him. He found me. Or rather, us.

"Alex, my girl. How are you doing this fine morning." A tall, well-built, blond boy slung his arm around her shoulders and stepped forward to keep stride with us.

"I'm great, Scott," she replied haughtily. "And I'm not your girl anymore, remember?"

"I know, baby, I'm just being friendly." He laughed.

"You don't have to be _that_ friendly, Scott," she said acidly, shrugging her shoulders out from under his arm.

"Okay, okay. Don't get excited." _God, I am so glad she broke up with me last month. I was gonna get her back once school started again, but now my prospects are so much better. And she can't be mad because she broke up with me. Hah!_ "So who's your new friend, Lex?"

"You know I hate it when you call me Lex." _God, why did he have to come talk to me while Edward was here? I mean, we broke up, and he can see Edward has my arm in his, it's obvious we're getting together. God. What's it gonna take for him to see that I don't WANT him anymore? _"This is Edward. Edward, this is Scott."

"Nice to meet you, Ed," Scott said, and reached for my hand. I gripped it a little too hard, unable to restrain myself. I really didn't like what he had been thinking about Bella.

"It's Edward, actually."

"Edward and I are on our way to math, Scott. So we'll see you later." _Dismissed. Stupid boy. Of course he wants me back. Seeing me with Edward probably just makes him want me more. Maybe one day, I guess. I mean, Scott's hot. But first, Edward. _

By the time we reached the math classroom and settled into our seats I was so disgusted with Alexandra that I was ready to call off the prank. But I looked across the room at my wife's mischievous smile and got my head back in the game. She was clearly enjoying this, so I would keep playing along. She winked at me and whispered something to Jasper. Alexandra had of course made sure that we sat far from my brother and 'sister'; she obviously didn't want any competition for my attention, even if it was from my relatives.

_Are you ready for this, brother?_ Jasper raised his eyebrows as he thought his question at me. I raised my eyes and lowered them. He grinned.

"Ready Bella?" he whispered to her, but I could hear him perfectly from across the room.

"Bring on stage two, Jazz. Try not to hit the rest of the class too hard, though."

"You got it, darlin'."

I closed my eyes and sighed. This was going to be a long class.


	5. Nessie

APOV

I was so happy when Nessie agreed to play along. I'd known she would – or rather, in sixteen out of seventeen futures I saw she'd agreed – but as usual, no matter what I foresaw, no matter what outcome I hoped for, nothing was as sweet as the moment I watched it come true. There were many ways in which Nessie took after her parents, but there were also several significant ways in which she was different. Unlike Bella, Ness loved to shop, and she loved dressing to impress almost as much as Rosalie and I did. She and Rose definitely favored provocative clothing over trendy clothing, unlike me, but I appreciated having one more willing shopping partner nonetheless. She was also much more laid-back than her conservative parents: She never cared what any of us knew about her love life, even when it angered Bella and Edward to know what she and Jake were up to. She never felt the need to brag about her sex life the way Emmett did, but she was always game when we'd rib her about it, and always gave as good as she got. She shared Jasper's love of history and Esme's compassion, and she had a love of bad reality television that made the rest of us miserable, since she forced us to watch her favorites with her.

One more way in which Nessie was different from her parents? She loved a good prank as much as Emmett did. Bella and Edward had both doubted whether she would want to participate in this particular prank, given what would be required of her, and despite the one in seventeen chance that they'd be right, I had never doubted that Ness would want to participate. Both Bella and Edward were under the impression that Jake and Nessie had been as traumatized by catching them in the act as they had been by being caught. Not so. Nessie and Jake had both laughed the situation off easily, and though they had hidden their amusement from Bella and Edward, they both laughed uproariously when they recounted the experience to the rest of us, regaling us with descriptions of Bella and Edward's embarrassment the ridiculous excuses they'd come up with to explain the situation. We made sure Bella and Edward never heard us laughing about the situation; it was too much fun to let them wallow in shame and watch the lengths they went to trying to avoid their daughter and son-in-law for several months following that occasion. "Parentus Interruptus"; that was what Nessie christened the event. I chuckled to myself, thinking how much more embarrassed my brother and sister would be if they knew how often the rest of us recalled the night of Parentus Interruptus and how hard we laughed each time we did. So I hadn't doubted that Nessie would go along with plan A. Her only hesitation would be about the embarrassment her parents would feel when they were reminded that she still held those images intact in her mind. But she got over that worry quickly. With a little coaxing from me and a little relaxation from Jazz, her enthusiasm for a good prank easily overrode her concern for her parents' pride.

This prank was all part of my grander plan, the plan that would get Bella and Edward to really start to lighten up. It had been over 30 years now since we had been threatened by the Volturi. We had faced minor threats over the years, of course; that was only to be expected. But there was no reason for any of us to continue to act as if each day might be our last. Edward and Bella needed to learn how to have fun. _Really_ have fun. And my plan was going to help them. I hadn't been able to decide on the right name for this mission yet. Emmett had suggested "Operation Lighten the Fuck Up," and Rosalie had offered "Operation Sticks Out of Their Asses," and "Operation: Get Over Yourselves," which, while factually correct, were all less subtle and less clever than what I was looking for. Jacob had offered "Operation Caddyshack" – the implication being that Bella and Edward needed to take a lesson from Chevy Chase's – or even Rodney Dangerfield's – character in that movie. I liked his idea, and he was on the right track, but I was looking for something wittier and more straightforward. You couldn't have a mission name you had to explain. Nessie's suggestions had all been too personal. "Operation Teach My Parents to Act Their (Physical) Ages," "Operation, Hello? You're Teenagers!" and "Operation You're in High School: Have Some Goddamn Fun" all nailed the objective of my plan right on the head, but I needed something that didn't scream, "your daughter wishes you were cooler."

Jazz had tried to help, but his suggestions were too formal or too obscure, their names derived from his military experience. "Operation Undermine the Enemies' Serious Demeanors by Utilizing Humor" was just too explicit – and not very funny – while "Operation Hector" was just too obscure. Even after he explained that one to me over and over, I still didn't follow the logic that led him from the situation at hand to the Trojan War and Hector's fatal battle with Achilles (and there were several steps within: Jazzy's logic moved from a Civil War general to the French Revolution to the Wars of the Roses to a battle of Charlemagne, and so on and so on, until he'd arrived back at the Greeks' war against Troy, and Prince Hector's final battle against the Greek army's greatest warrior). My Jazzy loved his military history. But I think he had forgotten that our campaign was against Edward and Bella and had just gotten too excited drawing the links between the different historical wars that so interested him. I loved Homer as much as anyone, and I knew the Iliad by heart – in ancient Greek as well as in eleven other languages (reciting it was one of my favorite ways to keep Edward out of my head). However, I knew there was really no connection between Hector's character and motivations – or his last fight – and the task at hand.

In the end, Carlisle came up with the name that I decided to use. He suggested, from Ecclesiastes, "Operation: Time to Laugh." It was perfect. Short, to the point, and it made us all laugh, especially because Edward's main objection whenever we had wanted to play these games with humans in the past had been, "Love Thy Neighbor." Nothing like using a Bible quotation to get back at your Bible-quoting brother. I smiled. Just a few more hours before the mission would be completed and we could reveal the operation name and its details to Edward and Bella.

Anyway, enough about the name of the mission. There were just fifteen more minutes until lunch. I looked over at Rose and grinned; she smirked back at me. It had been a 5-stage plan, but Rose had been so eager to participate that I had come up with a role for her to play, adding an extra stage. Five was a nice round number, better than six, but I couldn't refuse Rose, and after all, she was the master when it came to screwing with humans. She was up next, and I could tell that she was really looking forward to it. She and Emmett had even decided to forgo their own games with the boys at school in order to fully participate in this one. Just before this class had started, she and Emmett had paused in front of her would-be suitor to engage in a serious display of public affection. He had watched them, dumbfounded, and when they were finished, Rose had turned to him and said, in her bitchiest voice, "I can't believe you thought I would leave Emmett for you, you child. I wouldn't leave the love of my life for anyone. Least of all you." Rose always did enjoy putting men in their place – or simply abusing them – and given her history, I couldn't really hold it against her, even if I didn't agree with her methods. I knew that every time she lashed out at a human boy, she was striking back at her human fiancé, Royce, for what he and his friends had done to her. And while I didn't enjoy watching her inflict pain, she was careful never to choose innocent victims. She and Emmett always made sure that they chose boys who deserved to be taught a lesson about how to treat women properly. And truthfully, no matter what I – or anyone else – thought about what she did, she wasn't going to stop, and Emmett would always go along with whatever Rosalie desired.

With Edward and Bella as the primary actors in this new prank, however, Rose willingly gave up her own game and begged to play a part in this one. So now it was a 6-stage plan. To assuage Emmett's disappointment at being forced to give up his own prank, we had decided that we would videotape as much as we could of Alexandra's humiliation; Emmett would be our cinematographer. He took his new job very seriously, and had skipped his third-period class to outfit the hallways and the restaurant in town with hidden cameras. In addition, he had engineered a camera-equipped notebook and a camera-equipped pen that he was going to pass off to Edward in the hallway as soon as this period was over. Of course, he only had those devices because I had looked into the future last week and ordered the parts he'd needed to create them, but to hear him talk, he had come up with the ideas for both all on his own. I didn't mind. I wasn't looking for credit; I just wanted to be there to see how the end of this prank played out. Because if it was anything like my vision, it was going to be fantastic.

I had a quick vision of the teacher calling on me just as Nessie elbowed me hard in the ribs. Clearly I hadn't been doing a good job of acting like I was paying attention. I focused on the teacher and bent down over my notebook, as if I was taking notes, but seconds later, I heard the teacher call out my name.

"Alice Cullen, perhaps you can tell us what Aristotle deemed to be the three essential components of rhetoric." His voice was challenging, almost angry, and I knew that he believed he had caught me unawares. I fought back a smile and pretended to wrack my brain, creasing my forehead to add to the believability, before answering him.

"Um…well, I think that would be logos, or logic, pathos, or the emotional appeal of the speaker, and, um…ethos." I smiled at him smugly, watching his face crumble in anger as I answered his question perfectly. He was dying to ask me to elaborate on ethos, but I knew – as he did – that he couldn't keep focusing on me if he wanted to appear impartial. And so he moved on, asking one of the other students to explain the concept of ethos in detail. I smirked and Nessie rolled her eyes at me.

"Must be nice reading minds," she said mockingly.

"Nonsense. You know I can't read minds."

"Whatever, reading minds, seeing the answer in the future. Must be nice to be able to cheat." She smirked at me.

"Hmph. I don't cheat. I didn't need to search his mind for the answer. I've known that as long as I've known…well," I giggled, drawing a harsh look from the teacher. "Oh, whatever. You know I could have answered that question in my sleep."

"Sure, sure. As long as you weren't off in Never-Never Land thinking about how much you enjoy watching my dad and my mom fuck around with a human."

"Language, Nessie! So vulgar. Edward would definitely not approve." I smiled at her. There were a lot of things Nessie did that Edward didn't approve of, but at the end of the day, she had him so firmly wrapped around her little finger that she got away with everything. Always had, always would.

"Yeah, yeah." Nessie smiled, looking over at the design for a dress I had been sketching in my notebook. "For me?" she asked, excitedly.

"Of course!" I nodded. I designed clothes for all of my family members, but I had a good sense of their individual styles, and the dress I was drawing right now was undeniably Nessie. It had a V-neck halter top and it was short, but the details were precise – contrast stitching along the hemline and the halter straps, embellished buttons at the waist, and though it was meant to be form-fitting, it was not too tight, as it would have been had I designed it for Rose. I imagined it in sage green and white pinstriped seersucker, with navy blue for the contrast thread. I knew Nessie would love it – as would Jacob. It was sexy, but overtly so; it could easily pass as a sundress, to be worn at a picnic or baseball game – not that we went to many picnics or baseball games.

I looked up at the clock, noting, excitedly, that we had less than five minutes before the bell rang.

"You ready, honeypot?" I asked my niece.

"Of course. I was born ready," she said, grinning at me. "But first we gotta let Aunt Rose do her thing. I can't wait to see that!" She started to pack up her book bag before turning back to me. "So, could you see what was going to happen this period?"

I closed my eyes, going through the futures I had seen and scanning what I could see happening next, in the hall on the way to lunch. "Hmm. Well, I'm guessing my Jazz was very successful, because Alexandra is going to make her move as soon as the bell rings and Bella is going to be really uncomfortable. She's still going to play along, but we're going to have to distract her, remind her why we're doing this. Alexandra is still intent on her plan – more so even than before, I think, thanks to Jasper. Aw, Jazz. He really did a good job with her –"

"Okay, okay, you love Uncle Jazz. Get on with it." Nessie rolled her eyes.

"Back off, sweetie. If you want to know what I see, no bad-mouthing my husband," I said, feigning hurt. Then I smiled, and she smiled back at me. She loved teasing all of us whenever she got the chance. Lord knows we teased her and Jacob often enough. "Okay, well," I continued, "After Alexandra asks Edward to lunch, he'll go to the bathroom to give Rose time to do her thing. And, oh!... That's going to work perfectly. I'm so glad Rose suggested that. Her participation is just going to strengthen Alexandra's resolve, so, I'd give it, oh…fifteen minutes before your dad and Alexandra are sitting by the window at Claire's Café in town. Which means we'd better get a move on if we want to get in place before they get there. Emmett's already got everything set up – he was so excited that he skipped last class."

Nessie laughed, and I joined her. Her laughter was infectious – it was impossible not to be drawn in.

"This is going to be so good, Ali!" she declared, the bell-like tones of her voice ringing across the hallway so that several students turned to look at us.

"Of course it is, silly! I came up with it! And my plans are always perfect." I smiled in satisfaction and she and I ducked out the side door next to the ladies' room so quickly that no one saw us. In no time at all we had run the short mile into town and perched ourselves on tree branches overlooking the windows of Claire's Café. I had already told Edward that he had to choose a table next to the window for the plan to work. Now I just hoped that he remembered his code signal and that he would play along when the time came.

**A/N: Please, please if you read, review! Let me know if this is good, bad, should I cut off my fingers so I can't write anymore, quit my job so I can get the next chapter out tomorrow? Should I keep going? What works, what doesn't work? Tell me!! Otherwise I have no idea whether it's worth continuing this story or not. I need your feedback. Thanks!**


	6. Enter Rosalie

**A/N: So, I made a mistake in the first chapter when I was setting up the Cullens' cover story. I've gone back and edited it to fix the mistake, but if you don't want to go back and read it again, the cover story goes like this: Alice, Emmett and Bella are triplets, Rose and Jasper are twins, Edward and Nessie are twins, and Jake was adopted independently. Sorry about that!**

**A/N 2: A big thank you to Misrana, who pointed out that there was a second mention of the cover story in chapter 2 that I had forgotten to correct. It's fixed now and I'm forever in your debt, Misrana!!**

**Also, I wanted to get this chapter out before I go away for the weekend, since I probably won't post again until Tuesday, so there are probably a lot of spelling/grammar errors – I'll reread and edit when I get back to fix them, but I really wanted to get this out and didn't have time to edit as carefully as I would have liked. **

EPOV

I almost sighed aloud with relief when I saw that we were approaching the men's room. I had already agreed to go into town with Alexandra for lunch – she had asked me to go with her as soon as the bell had rung signaling the end of our last class – and so for the next couple of hours I would have no respite from her constant chatter and blatant come-ons, not to mention her vile thoughts. Thanks to Rosalie, however, I was going to get a brief break just now, and so I excused myself – almost too excitedly – to use the restroom. Alexandra stationed herself right outside the door to wait for me, not wanting to risk the possibility of losing track of her quarry. It would have frustrated me that she insisted on hovering so close, but I knew that her proximity would make it that much easier for me to listen in on her conversation with Rosalie, and I was really, _really_ looking forward to that.

Rosalie. Who would have thought she and I would have become as close as we now were? Our relationship was nothing like the deep bond I shared with Alice, but it was a relief to be able to say that I was truly friends with both of my sisters. So much had changed between me and Rosalie since those first years after Carlisle had brought her home. It had taken us a long time to get to this point. When she'd found Emmett, our relationship had gotten more tolerable, but it was still strained. It took Rosalie some time to finally accept Bella as my mate – and to accept that Bella wanted to be changed – but after Renesmee's birth, our relationship had truly blossomed. The closeness between Bella and Rose, and eventually between Rose and me, had taken me by surprise; I had pretty much written off my oldest sister. There had been so many years filled with antagonism between us. But after Nessie's birth, everything had changed. We had both found our soulmates, and we were both ridiculously happy. We accepted each other so much more easily now.

I walked into a stall and closed the door behind me, grinning. Rose loved these pranks, and I knew she was going to make this good.

"Oh, um, hi," Rose said, feigning nervousness, and I laughed. Nothing made Rose nervous. "I'm Rosalie. I saw you talking to my brother?"

"Who's your brother?" Alexandra, true to form, spit out the words snottily.

"Edward Cullen. You were just walking with him?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I didn't know who you were…I mean, yeah. Edward's your brother?" Alexandra was scrambling. I could hear in her thoughts that she had seen Emmett give Rose a kiss right before she walked over, so she knew that this sister was taken and wouldn't be any kind of competition for her. She was now scolding herself for being so rude and trying to figure out how pump Rose for information about me. I laughed again, grateful that the bathroom was (strangely) empty. She didn't know it yet, but she wouldn't need to push very hard for information about me. Of course, it wasn't necessarily going to be accurate information. She mustered up her friendliest tone of voice and said, "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too," Rose said, her voice also sickly sweet. "Listen, I know this is kind of weird, but can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Oh…sure?" Alexandra was clearly thrown off, but she was pleased that Rose was playing right into her plan.

"It's just, well, this is awkward. You know we're all adopted, right?" Rose lowered her voice. "I saw you guys hanging out this morning, and it seems like Edward's really into you. And I just wanted to talk to you, because...oh god, this is awkward. See, Edward's kind of inexperienced when it comes to girls. He's had girlfriends, I mean, it's not like he's _celibate,_" she smirked inwardly as she annunciated every syllable of that word, and I heard a loud guffaw from Emmett, who had also heard it from where he was waiting around the corner. My family never got tired of making fun of me for remaining a virgin for more than a century. But I had never wanted anyone in that way until I'd found Bella. And I was so glad I'd waited for her. "But none of them ever stuck around very long. He and Bella are really tight, and I think it's always been kind of hard for his girlfriends to understand. But you know, our childhood was kind of complicated, and the two of them have always leaned on each other for support. Anyway, I know you must think it's strange that I'm telling you all of this, but we all want him to be happy, and it seems like he really likes you. And it seems like you like him, too. So I just wanted to tell you, you know, girl-to-girl, that with Edward, it's always best to let him go slow. And talk to him. You know? Just ask him questions, talk to him about your life, act interested in his life. And let him talk about Bella. I know with his other girlfriends he was always frustrated because they'd get pissed off at him whenever he mentioned her name, but, I mean, of course he's going to mention her, just like he mentions all the rest of us – we're his family. So basically, the key is to talk to him, and accept Bella." The speech was so outlandish I couldn't believe that Alexandra was buying it, but Rose had turned on all her charm, used every tool in her arsenal to inspire trust in this girl, and she was playing the "girl-to-girl" aspect brilliantly. On top of which, Alexandra wanted so badly to believe that I wanted her and that she could have me that she probably would have let herself believe any line of gibberish that she thought would help her get what she wanted. I went to the sink to wash my hands. I'd need to interrupt them now before Alexandra pressed for more details about our family.

"Wow, thanks for telling me that," she said to Rose, trying to wrap her mind around the information she'd just received. _I can't fucking believe it. This has got to be my lucky day. His sister just told me how to bag him! Which is a little weird, I guess…but I don't know, I've never had a brother or sister, maybe it's not that weird, and they're all adopted so they're probably more like friends, and from what Jeannie told me it sounds like their childhood was pretty fucked up._ God. This was too easy. We weren't even going to have to do any damage control; she was doing it all for me, coming up with every excuse Rose or I could have offered to explain Rose's odd intrusion.

"That was excellent, Rose. She's buying every single word," I said under my breath – but of course it was loud enough for Rose to hear.

"Are you fucking kidding me? She didn't even question why I would come talk to her?" Rose was fighting back laughter as she answered me at vampire speed.

"She's too eager to believe she's going to get what she wants to question anything. And you laid on the charm pretty thick. Nicely done."

"Wow. Okay, get your ass out here because I want to go meet Em and make sure all the cameras are set up at the restaurant." Rose was disappointed that her role in this particular prank was over so quickly. She really liked toying with humans.

"It's so sweet how much you guys all care about each other," Alexandra said sweetly.

"Of course we do. I mean, we have to look out for each other. And we all really love each other." I stepped out of the bathroom and Rose looked up at me, a glimmer of something in her eye. Oh god, no. I'd seen that look before. I walked over quickly, scanning her thoughts to see what she was planning, but all I could see was a very vivid memory of how she and Emmett had spent last night. I grimaced.

"Hey Rose," I said smoothly, adding, too quietly for Alexandra to hear, "Now get out of here."

"I'm going, but I just wanted to add one little thing to make this more fun for the rest of us," she replied under her breath, before saying aloud, "So, are you guys coming to lunch?"

"No, we're going to skip out on lunch and the orientation assembly and I'm going to show Edward around town."

"Well, that sounds like fun. You guys have a good time, and I'll see you later, Eddie." Great. There it was. My family knew how much I hated being called Eddie, and they loved to torment me with it. Rose knew, as well as I did, that Alexandra would welcome any opportunity to act more intimate with me, and using a family nickname would certainly fit the bill. Sure enough, as soon as Rosalie had turned the corner, Alexandra took my hand in hers and started leading me to the side entrance.

"Mmm, Eddie. I like that," she purred at me, and I scowled. "You don't mind if I call you Eddie, too, do you?" I fought the urge to hiss. In the distance I could hear the unmistakable sound of five vampires, one half-vampire and a werewolf laughing hysterically – at me.

Twenty minutes later we were seated at a table by the window at the café in town. With the help of Emmett's whispered stage directions from where he sat watching the monitors in a van – where the hell did he get a van? – outside, I had positioned my notebook camera and pen camera to get the best possible shots of both Alexandra's face and mine. Now I just had to get her talking and listen for when her fantasies started. Nessie had suggested I run my hands through my hair as a signal to her, but Alice quickly saw that that wouldn't work, since I had a habit of running my hand through my hair when I was frustrated, and I was surely going to be frustrated this afternoon. So we had decided that when it was time for Nessie to do her thing, I'd scratch my ear. Pretty basic, but it would work.

Alexandra was prattling on about something – telling me about the town and the kids at school, I think, and predictably focusing more on the gossip about the people in town and at school than anything else. I was doing a decent job of pretending to listen, but as I'd learned, it wasn't too hard to keep her convinced of my interest. I let my mind wander to the night before, when Bella and I had lain in bed together, and she had let me slip her wedding band and engagement ring off of her finger and thread them onto the delicate chain I had purchased years ago, the first – well, second – time we had gone to high school together. I hated not seeing my rings on her finger, but it helped knowing that they lay nestled beneath her clothes, between her breasts, and close to her heart. She then repeated the gesture, sliding my ring off my ring finger and slipping it onto the left finger of my right hand. We had debated the best way for me to wear my ring, but neither of us liked the idea of me wearing a necklace, and it wouldn't work on a bracelet, at least not the kind of bracelet I would wear, so we had decided I would wear it on my right hand. If anyone asked, I would tell them that it was a family heirloom passed down over the years (not a lie, and no one needed to know that over those many years, I had been the only one to wear it), and I wore it because it made me feel close to my family (again, not a lie). I broke out of my reverie and tried to concentrate on what Alexandra was saying, and, more importantly, what she was thinking.

"Eddie, your family seems so great," she said. "How long have you all been together?"

"Carlisle and Esme adopted us when we were all very young," comparatively, though I refrained from adding that. "They're really the only people I've ever thought of as my family."

"What are they like, Eddie?" She wasn't missing a chance to call me by that god-awful name.

"Well, Emmett's a goofball, always wants to have fun. I love him, even when he goes too far." I looked pointedly into the camera I knew he'd placed on the window frame above Alexandra's head. He could see me perfectly well through the stream from the pen camera, of course, but I felt like emphasizing my point, so I shifted my gaze to the other camera. Outside, I heard him chuckle. "Rosalie's wonderful, a perfect match for Emmett, really. I don't think anyone else could keep him in line; she gives as good as she gets, and he needs that."

"Damn straight," Rosalie said from where she sat next to her husband in the van, and I heard the sound of her hand hitting him upside the head.

"Alice and Jasper, too, they seem to be meant for each other. He's very quiet, sensitive." I knew he'd hate that description, but what did he expect me to say, _Jasper can control your emotions, and feel everything you're feeling the moment you feel it?_ That wouldn't go over well. "Alice is really intense. She has very definite ideas about how she thinks things should happen, and she's very bossy about making things happen the way she sees them happening." I could hear laughter outside and I knew my family was enjoying watching me tell the truth without actually telling the truth.

"I'm only bossy because I always know what's right, Edward," Alice said petulantly from her perch in the tree outside of the café. I smiled.

"My sister, Nessie, is pretty outspoken, pretty fearless. I worry about her a lot."

_That's an understatement if I've ever heard one,_ Nessie thought.

"But Jake is a really good guy, and he looks out for her."

"So Nessie and Jake are together?"

I nodded.

"And Rose and Emmett, and Alice and Jasper?"

I nodded again, pretending to take a sip of my soda.

"Is it weird that most of your siblings are coupled off?"

"It doesn't seem weird to me, I guess because it's what I've always lived with. And it all happened very naturally. All of us - except for Jake - knew each other before Carlisle and Esme took us in, and the relationships were already there when we were adopted. I mean, not romantically - we were really young - but it was obvious who was close like that. And with Nessie and Jake, well, it was obvious from the first time they saw each other how much they felt for each other. It was pretty instantaneous." I heard a loud guffaw from Emmett outside, and the rest of the family chuckled. Little did Alexandra know that that "instantaneous" connection had been forged minutes after Nessie's birth.

"Oh, Eddie, isn't it hard for you living with all those couples...and being...alone?"

"Well, Bella's not with anyone either, and she's my best friend. I'm closer to her than anyone else. So I've never really thought about it much. But I'd love to have what my siblings have. They are all so happy with each other, so much in love. I wish I…" I trailed off, lowering my head and meeting her eyes with what Bella had dubbed my "dazzling" gaze. Alexandra was quiet for a moment, taking several deep breaths. I searched her mind. We were almost there.

"What about you, do you have brothers and sisters?" I asked in my most seductive voice. I was getting tired of this charade.

"Only child. I guess I'm pretty spoiled." Hmm. That was more self-awareness than I'd expected from her. Maybe she wasn't so bad. But my moment of sympathy had only just begun to form before she ruined it. "That's how I like it. I get what I want. Everything I want." She leveled her eyes at me, trying to send her message – as if it hadn't been clear before.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Would I be here if I had a boyfriend?" she purred, letting her hand rest on top of mine.

"Well, I hope not," I said as softly as I could manage. I really despised this girl. "Because I was hoping…" I let my voice trail off again, hoping this would be enough to get her fantasizing, that what I didn't say would be as effective as anything I could have said. Just in case, I hissed at vampire frequency, "Jazz, can you do your thing? I don't know how much longer I can take this."

Sure enough, moments later I saw Alexandra's pupils dilate and her lips part as she almost panted.

"So what are you looking for in a girl, Eddie?" She was back to using that "seductive" voice now, the one that was so deep and throaty that it made her sound like she was about to cough up a lung.

"Well, I'm not sure," I said, pausing as if to think so that I could get a clear read on her mind. And yes, there it was. She was picturing us together, on a bed in a pink room that would have made Alice physically ill if that were possible. I was above her, removing her shirt and her bra and caressing her breasts. I leaned down to kiss her and as my body moved against her she imagined how it would feel to have my…ugh. Enough. I didn't need to listen to any more. I waited a few moments for the fantasy fully take root, all the while fixing her with my most smoldering look to encourage the direction her thoughts were taking, and then I reached up to scratch my ear. Nessie's turn. I wasn't crazy about my daughter replaying these images, but of course I knew she'd never forgotten them, and I knew she cared far less about what she'd seen than Bella and I did. I'd heard often enough in my siblings' minds how much fun my daughter and her husband had recounting that afternoon, and I knew that the only people who didn't find it funny or laugh it off were me and my wife. At least Bella wouldn't have to watch as Ness replayed the memories.

"Okay, do your worst, Ness," I whispered, too quietly and quickly for Alexandra to notice that I'd said anything. I could hear laughter from outside – even Bella's bell-like chimes – and thought that at least everyone else was enjoying this. I tuned in fully to Alexandra's mind so that I could monitor our progress, bracing myself for what I was about to see.

**A/N: Please read and review! I've had about a little less than a hundred visitors and two hundred hits, so I know people are reading – and coming back to read more – but I don't know what most of you think! Please let me know. **


	7. Make Love, Make War

**Once again, I'm eager to get this out, so it's not as clean as it could be. I have revised the last chapter, and will revise this one before I publish the next.**

NPOV

I watched my dad scratch his ear and heard his whispered instructions, and closed my eyes to concentrate on the blonde nightmare sitting across from him. I didn't need to close my eyes – over the years my gift had developed to where I no longer needed physical contact to transmit my memories to someone else's mind, and by now it took very little effort for me to do so. But I knew that with my eyes open, I was likely to burst out laughing. Funnily enough, it was easy for me to maintain my gift when I was under pressure or frightened; when I was amused or happy, I was easily distracted and often lost control of it. My mom said it was the same for her with her shield. Faced with a threat she never let it slip, but when she was enjoying herself – say, occupied by something my father was doing, for example – she had a much harder time. With my eyes open, I would be able to see Jake sitting next to me in the Navigator, shaking with laughter that he was trying very hard to contain; Alice and Jasper draped over branches of the tree outside the restaurant, obscured from Alexandra's view by the lush green leaves that had not yet begun to change color and fall to the ground; and lastly, the van in which Rose and Emmett were camped out, monitoring the video feed from the cameras they had set up. I couldn't see inside the van, of course, but the very sight of it had been enough to make me laugh so hard I'd cried earlier. Somehow Emmett had managed to find a bright green, 70-year-old VW bus. The windows were tinted as dark as the windows of the Navigator – something Emmett, no doubt, was responsible for – but in all other respects the vehicle looked like it had just arrived from Woodstock, or a Grateful Dead concert. It even had a dancing bears bumper sticker and a peace sign painted on the hood. It was the kind of van in which people made love, not war, and from what I'd witnessed earlier, Rose and Emmett had made sure to recreate that era of history when they'd first gotten into the van together. I shuddered to think what they had been like during the era of free love, wondering how their love could be any freer than it was now. I heard a low chuckle from my father as that thought crossed my mind and that brought me back to the task at hand. Right. Here we go.

Esme, Carlisle, Alice, Jasper, Rose, Emmett, Jake and I had all gone hunting together. I had been 7 years old – and had looked 21 since my sixth birthday – and had no illusions about why we were leaving my parents alone. Each of the couples in my family got their alone time. At night, of course, everyone got to be with their mates, but we also tried to provide each couple with some extra time, knowing that sometimes, a night simply wasn't enough. At that time Jake and I had only been together intimately for a little over a year. Of course, we had been romantic for several years – we had been "boyfriend and girlfriend" since I was 4½ – but my parents had insisted that we wait until I was "fully matured" until we consummated our relationship. I had complained a great deal, but the truth was, I was relieved. Everything had gone so quickly for me – the stages of childhood and adolescence had sped by – and I was glad to be able to draw the phases of my relationship with Jacob out a bit. We had all of eternity to be together, and so, while I never let my parents know how I felt about it (as a teenager, I was supposed to fight them tooth and nail about everything, right?), I was grateful to let that innocent, first-love stage of our relationship be extended a bit. I think Jake felt the same way. I knew he'd thought himself in love with my mother – kissed her, even, though given the circumstances, both times, I didn't really consider it kissing. Kissing was voluntary, there was no pressure, no fear, no threat. It was something you did out of pure love, pure desire. The kisses my mom and Jake had shared didn't fit those requirements. Everyone in my family had been so worried that I would be angry when I found out, but the way I understood it, the kisses my mother had shared with Jake were so different from the kisses Jake and I shared, there was nothing to be jealous about. Anyway, whatever Jake had thought he felt about my mother, I knew that for both of us, this was first – and only – love. And so I hadn't minded waiting. There was no rush, after all: We were immortal. But finally, after my sixth birthday, Jake and I had become a couple in every way.

That day when we were all hunting, Jake and I had both fed quickly. We had decided that, with out physical hungers satiated, we couldn't wait any longer to satisfy our hunger for each other. And so we had headed back to the house, forgetting, in our excitement, that we had left my parents behind – forgetting, in our excitement, exactly what that meant. Alice and Jasper had been wrapped up in their own activities when Jake and I made the decision to head home, so it wasn't until too late that she had realized what would happen.

In truth, it didn't bother me to walk in on my parents. It wasn't like I didn't know what they did – like I hadn't always known what they did. After all, the cottage in Forks hadn't been soundproof, and neither had any of our other homes. It hadn't bothered Jake either. In fact, he thought it was the funniest thing he'd seen in a long time when we walked in on them sprawled across the piano and Mom clutched Dad's shirt to her chest and exclaimed that they'd been trying to tune it. I had bit back my laughter, not wanting to embarrass my mother; Dad, of course, saw exactly what I was thinking and exactly what I had seen. He had grimaced but realized there was nothing he could do to remedy the situation. Jake, of course, had howled with laughter, unable to control himself in spite of my mother's obvious humiliation.

I would have kept it a secret, but of course Alice had seen what would happen, and Jake, at any rate, couldn't have been restrained. We had had a great deal of fun recounting the episode the next night when my parents went hunting alone. And it remained a favorite family story. Not one we ever told in front of my mother, of course, but one we retold gleefully whenever my parents left us alone and we decided to trade stories about their prudishness. That was Emmett's word; after witnessing the scene atop the piano, I would never call my parents prudish.

Now, finally, everything I had seen, everything I had heard over the years would be useful. I decided to start slowly. I didn't know exactly what Alexandra was imagining, but whatever it was, I could add a voice-over track that would certainly be unexpected.

_Oh, Bella, my love, just like that…oh my God, oh my…Bella!! What are you doing to me?! I can't --_ And just then, Jake nudged me. Dad had tugged on his earlobe again telling me to stop. Huh. That was hardly anything. This was going to be fun.

The next forty-five minutes went by quickly. Dad would tug on his ear, Jake would elbow me, and I would send some thoughts to Alexandra. I stuck with words for the first three episodes, after that I started bombarding her with images. Of my parents. Together. Like that. We had discovered a few years ago that I could falsify my memories – send images I had never seen, memories I'd never had – as long as I worked off of what I knew. I had never seen Alexandra's bedroom, so I couldn't re-create that, but I had seen my father's car, many of the classrooms at school, the hallway and lockers, and the gym (thanks to Alice, who had dragged me there this morning, knowing that it would come in handy). I hadn't seen my parents making love in those places, of course, but I could combine my memory of those places with the memories I had of my parents making love (I would never tell anyone, because I knew the rest of the family would give them hell for it, but that day Jake and I came home early was not the first time I'd caught my parents in the act. We did, after all, live together in a small cottage for several years when I was growing up). We were building up to one particular fantasy of Alexandra's: that of my father taking her on the table at the café, which I, of course, would replace with an image of my father taking my mother on that table. I kept my eyes closed for the most part, letting Jake alert me whenever my father scratched his ear. Every time my father heard Alexandra's thoughts slip into a fantasy of her and my father being intimate, I would send an image into her mind of my father and mother being intimate. I could see that Alexandra was growing more and more uncomfortable - as well she should be. How often did your fantasies about your crush suddenly change into fantasies of your crush getting it on with his (albeit adopted) sister?

I was focused on sending the images to Alexandra, but even as I worked I was able to pick up on much of the conversation she was having with my father. She had started off by asking him about his family in general, then moved quickly to asking him about his relationship with my mother. She was hoping to win his trust, of course, but after each question she asked, my father pretended to be just a little bit more confused, a little bit more thoughtful about his relationship with his "sister" Bella. Dad went on and on about how close he and his "sister" were, how she was the "most amazing person," how she helped him through so much and he would always need her in his life, but he peppered all those statements with suggestive remarks about Alexandra, to make sure that she didn't lose interest - or hope that she could make him hers. Of course, he never came out and actually said anything explicit about liking Alexandra or wanting her – Mom would have had his ass if he had – but he said just enough to make Alexandra believe that in spite of the bond he had with his "sister" Bella, he was still in the market for a girlfriend, and that she was what he was looking for in said girlfriend.

My favorite part was towards the end, when Alexandra finally addressed what she had been worrying about all along. A few moments before, I had sent the final, most explicit image I had: Bella and Edward having sex in the girls' locker room at school - up against ALexandra's locker, actually; I was glad Alice had pointed it out to me. That should do it, I figured. Sure enough, when I opened my eyes and peered into the cafe window, Alexandra was rubbing her fingers against her temples, eyes firmly shut. Had I given her a headache? Was she trying to massage the memory from her brain? She was silent for several minutes before finally opening her eyes to look across the table at my father.

"So even though you and Bella are so close, you've never thought about being with her…well, the way your siblings are together?"

Dad's reaction was priceless. He managed to sound completely taken aback, utterly surprised.

"Gosh, I don't know. Really, I've never thought about it."

"Well, if you've never thought about it, I'm sure it's because you guys don't feel that way about each other."

"I suppose…" Dad said slowly. I fixed my eyes on Alexandra at this point. I knew I'd be able to watch both points of view later on the videos Em and Rose were making, but this was too good, and after all, my part was finished. I wanted to see how she reacted to this first-hand. "Of course you're right. If she thought – I mean, if we thought about each other like that, we would have realized it before now, right? I mean, we would have, wouldn't we?" He worked just the right amount of uncertainty into his voice.

"Right, of course" Alexandra said firmly, taking his hand in hers. "But you do need a girl to call your own."

"I do. I need a girl of my own."

"So what kind of girl are you looking for?"

Dad looked deeply into her eyes, then down at his hands. He sighed, looking out the window.

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. Someone I'm comfortable talking to, of course."

"Are you comfortable talking to you?"

"Well, it's easy to tell you the things I need to tell you." Of course Dad would try to tell the truth, even in a situation like this.

"I'm glad."

"So I guess I know who I'm looking for."

"When you find her," she said softly, "you have to tell her how you feel."

"Oh, Alexandra," he said slowly, breathing deeply.

"Yes, Eddie?" she purred, expectantly.

"I can't believe I've been so blind."

"It's okay, Eddie."

"It was right here in front of me."

"Yes, Eddie."

"How can I ever repay you?"

"Oh, Eddie."

"I've got to tell her, don't I?"

"Yes," Alexandra purred, her eyes almost closed as she leaned across the table towards him. "Tell her, Eddie. Tell her now."

"I will! I'm going to tell her. Thank you so much for this. I've got to go find her."

"Yes, find her...wait, what?! Find her? What are you talking about? I'm right--"

"Alexandra," Dad said quickly, cutting her off, "I don't know how to thank you."

"Thank me? What are you talking about?"

"I never would have realized," Dad stood up, throwing a wad of cash on the table - probably three times more than was necessary to cover their meals.

"Of course! Like you said."

"Like I said? Wait, Eddie, where are you going?" Alexandra shrieked as she stood up and stepped out into the aisle in front of him.

"I'm going to find Bella, of course," he said smoothly, looking down into her eyes. "Just like you said I needed to."

"Like I – what? That's not what I - No! I didn't say that!" she was pushing him back now, trying to force him back into the chair.

"Yes, you did. You said, when I find a girl of my own, I have to tell her. And everything you were saying about Bella and me, how special our bond is, how lucky we are to have each other." He looked at her meaningfully and smiled, dazzling her. "We are lucky to have each other, and I would never have seen that if it hadn't been for you. We are lucky to have you, Alexandra, and I will never forget it. Neither of us will ever forget it." With that, he pushed past her towards the door. On cue, my mother and Alice breezed into the restaurant, seemingly so caught up in conversation with each other that they didn't notice Alexandra standing, aghast, at the table or my father rushing towards them, a wide grin on his face, enjoying the moment since Alexandra couldn't see his expression.

**A/N: I know, kind of out there, but I hope you enjoyed it. Please read and review! Let me know what works and what doesn't. Thanks!**


	8. Dénoument

EPOV

Alexandra was utterly confused. Listening to her thoughts over the last – gosh, it had been almost an hour! – had been more amusing than I'd expected. Every time she'd had a fantasy about being with me, Nessie had replaced the images with ones of me with Bella. Alexandra couldn't figure out why, every time her desire for me reached an apex, she would imagine me making love to my sister. But the images of me with Bella didn't deter her; she continued to come on to me, continued to convince herself that I wanted her, that we were on a date, and that this date would lead to a relationship. When Nessie sent the final image – once again replacing Alexandra with Bella, so that Alexandra found herself imagining Bella and I making love on the café table in front of her – the expression on Alexandra's face was priceless. She was horrified, incredulous, appalled, embarrassed. It was wonderful to behold.

And then, as the next part of our scene played out – me thanking Alexandra for her help, almost bolting to the door to greet Bella – Alexandra's thoughts became even more comical. She was aghast; she'd never had her advances rejected before, and she wasn't sure what to do. I was tempted to end the game there, to hurry over to Bella and wrap my arms around her, but I remembered Alice's instructions, and I would never cross Alice.

So after I had stood up and thrown money down to cover the bill, I paused, pretending to be frozen in fear, and took Alexandra's hand, coaxing her to sit down with me once more.

"Alex, Lex, you have to help me," I said in my most vulnerable, pathetic voice. I fixed her with my dazzling look, praying it was as effective as Bella believed it was. "You've been such an amazing friend – can you help me figure out how to do this? I mean, you are the one who helped me to realize my feelings about Bella. You have to help me figure out how to tell her how I feel. You are such a good friend, and I know you have my best interests at heart. How should I tell her? What should I tell her? You _have_ to help me! I've never had a girl _friend_ like this, like you, and I am so grateful I have you to help me with this." I reached out to clasp her hand as I spoke. Reading her thoughts, I could see that she was struggling with the elation she felt at occupying such a special place in my world, and the frustration she felt that she was not the girl I was madly in love with. In the end, she decided to play the role of my friend, figuring that it would give her an opportunity to edge out Bella and become the object of my affection. I fought back a laugh when I heard her thoughts.

BPOV

Oh, God. It had – surprisingly – been a lot of fun watching Alexandra throw herself at my husband, and it was almost as much fun watching him play along, since what he was playing at was letting her lead him to the realization that he was in love with me. So now here we were. Stage 1: Edward flirted enough to get her interested. Stage 2: Jazz bombarded her with lust. Newly added stage 3: Rosalie gave her some advice. Stage 4: Nessie messed with her fantasies. Stage 5: Edward pretended to let her convince him that he's in love with me. And now: Stage 6: I would express my undying gratitude to her for helping to get Edward and I together, and then I would declare her my new best friend. This was going to be fun. It was more convoluted and more outlandish than the other pranks we had pulled, but Alexandra had proved too willing a target – she had bought everything, hook, line and sinker, even when what she was being told was too ridiculous to be believed (for example, Rose's little "girlfriend-to-girlfriend speech). I was going to have fun trying to make this girl my best friend. I would have dreaded it, given that there was always a chance she'd go along with it, in which case I'd actually have to spend time with her, but Alice had assured me that out of all the futures she'd seen, there wasn't a single one in which Alexandra didn't do everything in her power to get as far away from me as she could, as quickly as possible. Alice had also seen that she would do her best to retaliate for at least the rest of the school year – probably longer than that – but I'd suffered worse; we all had. I didn't mind fending off an angry cheerleader for the rest of the year – or even the rest of my time at this high school. Plus, from what Alice had seen, Alexandra wouldn't be a cheerleader for much longer, anyway. I grinned at Nessie, knowing what Alice had seen about my daughter's future on the cheerleading squad.

I saw Alexandra stand up and start to walk over to the table where Alice and I were sitting, and I fought back laughter and composed my face into a serious expression.

"Hi, um, Bella? Alice?" she said tentatively when she reached us.

"Hi Alexandra," Alice said eagerly. "What are you up to?"

"Well, I'm here with your brother…with Edward. We were just talking, and, um, well, I wonder if I could talk to you alone, Alice?" Edward must have seriously dazzled her, because she was sending me off to sit alone with him with very little hesitation. She'd even smiled at me as she spoke. I would have given anything to hear inside her head, and I pushed my shield down, letting Edward know that when I sat down with him I would make him tell me what she was thinking and what he had done to make her go along with this.

"Of course, Alexandra!" Alice chirped. "I'd be happy to talk to you. Bella, you don't mind, do you? You can go sit with Edward while Alex and I chat." She grinned at me and I stood up, pulling out my chair to offer it to Alexandra, before making my way across the restaurant to Edward's table.

"You _will_ tell me what she's thinking," I said as I sat down across from him. Under the table, he reached out, taking my hand in his.

"It's not that interesting," he said, and I scowled at him. "Okay, fine. She's thinking that if she can't have me as her boyfriend, she might as well make friends with as many of us as she can. She has decided that given how 'hot' (her word) we all are, we will definitely become the new popular crowd, and she doesn't want to be left out. No, actually, that's not doing her justice. It's not that she doesn't want to be left out; she wants to get a head start on making friends with us, and she sees this as her golden opportunity."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she figures that if she helps me get together with you, we will all be indebted to her, and we will include her in what she calls our 'clique.' I hate to imagine what she will do when she discovers that none of us care about being cool or popular, and that all of us despise the idea of cliques." He smiled at me, and gazing into his eyes, I had to stop myself from jumping across the table and tackling him in a way that would have been wildly inappropriate for a newly formed couple. He smiled, having read my mind, since I still had my shield down.

"Hmph. Can't a girl get a little privacy?" I said, glaring up at him from beneath my lashes.

"Oh, love, you know I can't help it," he said, fixing me with his most dazzling gaze.

"I know, I know," I relented. "But I don't have to like it."

"Why not?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "There are, you know, _advantages_ to me being able to read your thoughts."

"Edward!" I gasped. If I could have blushed, I would have been beet-red. He was referring to the ways in which his gift aided our lovemaking. "Our daughter is listening!"

"Yes, she is. And our daughter is the one who just sent those explicit images to that insufferable blonde sitting with Alice. I don't think Nessie is ignorant of what we do together, my love."

"Well, of course she's not," I huffed. "I know that! But it doesn't mean you have to advertise it. Our whole family is listening!"

"Not Esme and Carlisle."

"Not now, no. But you know as well as I do that Emmett will show them the tapes."

"So?"

"So, Edward," I said, trying my best to maintain my indignance – in reality, I knew everyone in our family knew just how intimate Edward and I were, and I knew they were all just as intimate with their own mates, but I still didn't like the idea of broadcasting it. "So, do you really think everyone needs to know what we do when we are alone together?"

"Oh, Bella, don't you think they know already?" he said softly.

"But Nessie!"

"But Nessie nothing!" he said forcefully. "You know as well as I do that she's a grown woman, that she and Jacob are intimate just as you and I are, just as the rest of the family are, and I don't see any point in pretending any longer. I don't like being away from you, love. I don't like having to pretend that my feelings are as shallow as those of a teenage boy in love with his high-school girlfriend. I love you eternally, powerfully, more than my own life, and I want to be able to show it."

His words touched the very core of my being, and I shivered inadvertently. I wouldn't have thought that my feelings for Edward could get any more intense, but with his last words, I found myself as dazzled as I had been the first time he'd spoken to me. Well, the first time he'd spoken to me after he'd decided not to kill me.

"Bella?" he said hesitantly, and I realized that I'd been sitting there with my eyes closed, not breathing, for almost two minutes.

"Oh, Edward! I don't want to pretend anything anymore either." I turned my head to look at Alexandra and Alice, who were sitting across the restaurant, seemingly deep in conversation. "But Alexandra. We'll have to take it slowly."

"Somewhat, yes," he conceded. "But once we've established that we are a couple, I'm not going to hold back anymore."

"Then neither will I," I said forcefully. "Although, of course, I will have a new best friend."

We both looked over at Alexandra and grinned, evilly. She wouldn't resist my friendship – Alice had foreseen that – and I would torment her with stories of how wonderful Edward was, since, of course, it was normal to tell your best friend all about your boyfriend. I wondered how long Alexandra would last. Alice hadn't given any hints as to how long we would keep this charade up, and Edward couldn't tell me either, since Alice had blocked him from her visions and thoughts on the matter.

**A/N: Sorry it's a bit short, and it's kind of out there. Don't worry, the Cullens are not done making Alexandra suffer. This is just the beginning. Let me know what you think - please review!**


	9. What next?

A/N: very short, and not much progression, but I haven't updated in a while and wanted to assure you that there's more to come here! Next chapter will be up within the next week.

APOV

"So, what are we doing next?" Emmett boomed, collapsing into the overstuffed couch in the family room.

"What do you mean, 'next.' I thought we just did pretty good?" Edward said testily.

"Yeah, yeah, we did good bro, and I know Alice says there's more that's gonna happen with this Alexandra thing, but for right now all we need is for you and Bella to be her best, most grateful friends, and act madly in love with each other." He snorted. "I don't think that part's gonna be hard for you two. But we can't be finished messing with these kids so soon. I know you heard what they were saying about our girls. I heard what they were saying about my Rosie. I know you want to have a little fun with that. Scare a couple of idiot boys, you know?"

Edward groaned, dropping his head to rest on Bella's shoulder. "I didn't realize there would be more," he mumbled to her. She ran her hands through his hair, massaging his head and laughing lightly. Of course there would be more.

I looked up from my catalogue at my family scattered around the large room and giggled.

"Alice! I knew you'd come through. Tell us what we're going to do next." Emmett had jumped off the couch and came over to sit with me by the fireplace.

"Well, I do have a couple of ideas…and I see a couple of interesting things in our future, but I think we're going to need everyone here to decide what course we want to take."

Emmett rubbed his hands together excitedly, rolling his eyes at Edward who was doing his best to seem disapproving of our fun.

"Oh, come on Edward. You know you'll end up playing along. You might as well enjoy it. And Bella, don't even try to pretend you don't like our little…distractions." Her laugh was clear and carefree, and she smiled broadly at Emmett.

"So, Rosie's working on her car, but if I give her another hour I can probably coax her to come in after that. Where are Jake and Nessie?"

"They went to hunt," Bella said, still working her hands over Edward's scalp; his head was now placed in her lap. What a baby. "They didn't go far. They said they'd be back by seven."

"And Carlisle has a night-shift tonight and Esme has made some plans to, ah, surprise him at work, you know, to uh...well, anyway, that leaves us until 7:30."

"Well, if we've only got three hours until the meeting, I think I better go persuade Rosie to work on the car later," Emmett said, smirking, as he lumbered off toward the garage. "You know, because I'm thinking she'll want to--"

"I don't think any of us need you to finish that sentence, Emmett. Alice, where's Jazz by the way?" Bella asked, rolling her eyes at Emmett as he made his way out to the garage.

"Oh, he's upstairs reading. Which reminds me, I have a bunch of homework to do, so I think I'll join him. You guys must have homework too. Maybe you should work on it as well," I said, winking at them and laughing. They groaned at my less-than-subtle suggestion, but I smiled brightly as I flew up the stairs towards my room - and my husband. Edward and Bella could play like they were mature and sedate, but they were just as bad as the rest of us. I don't know why they tried to pretend with me. I could see everything they did before they did it. And right now...well, I wouldn't be going downstairs for a few hours, at least.


	10. What Emmett Wants

EPOV

The next morning, too early in Jake's opinion, as I gathered from his incessant mental whining (I rolled my eyes at him as he plodded down the stairs; in turn, he offered me a finger I did not care for), we gathered around the dining room table to discuss our battle plan.

After much cajoling and begging and pleading from Emmett, we had decided to focus our attentions on one of Rosalie's many admirers, the captain of the football team, a senior named Blake Jones. If I could have chosen, I would have liked to go after Scott, the boy who thought he had a shot with Bella – well, one of the boys who thought they had a shot with Bella – but I didn't want to appear too enthusiastic about these games of ours, so I sat back and held my peace and let Emmett make his case for Blake. It was a fairly simple prank we were going to pull. Emmett had been watching _Heathers_ a bit too often of late, so his idea was for Rose to lure them out to the JV football field in the evening and get them to strip. Then we'd knock them out, plant some toys, take some pictures – pretty much just what they do in the movie, minus the shooting.

Everyone else seemed enthusiastic; I was bored. Bella, of course, could tell that I was less than excited about this new prank, and she hung back with me as everyone piled into the cars to head off to school, telling them we'd meet them there.

"Sweetheart?" she asked softly after everyone had pulled out of the drive. "What is it?"

I sighed. "Nothing, really. I mean, nothing in particular." I looked up at her. "Do you ever feel like these games just get old? I mean, they're teenagers, they're stupid and arrogant, and often obnoxious. But I just don't get the same kind of satisfaction out of putting them in their place as everyone else seems to."

"Oh, baby," she murmured, reaching for me and wrapping me in her arms. "Don't you see? It isn't that this is so satisfying for everyone. Well, maybe it is satisfying for Emmett and Rose. But even for them, that's not the real point. The real point is that it's a distraction. It lets us relax, have fun, be silly – and forget that we have larger battles that we will have to fight."

"The Volturi."

"Yes. The Volturi. You don't think any of us has forgotten them, do you? It's all we can do not to think about it every moment of every day, because none of us know when and how they will come for us next. We only know that they _will_ come for us. And so in the meantime, they want to enjoy themselves as much as possible. Be as carefree as possible. Because none of us knows how long we have to live this life together." She sighed, squeezing me tighter in her arms.

"Oh, Bella," I breathed. "I won't ever let them take you from me."

"I won't let them take any of us," she said fiercely. "But we will have to fight. Someday, we will fight. And until then, I want us, all of us, to enjoy each other as much as possible."

"Yes," I said quietly.

"Say it again," she said. "And mean it."

"Yes. We will enjoy each other."

"And that means letting Emmett and Rose have their fun."

"Yes," I said, smiling. I don't know how I got so lucky to have Bella as my wife.

A/N: Another short one, but Emma is about to make her entrance. The next chapter may post tonight – I actually wrote it as part of this chapter, but it felt like this was the right place to break, and I want to make sure I have Emma's entrance perfect.


	11. Vanished

A/N: So, this chapter and the previous chapter were originally one chapter, but it seemed like there was a natural break, and so, despite the fact that they are both extremely short, I decided to split them up. Hopefully you won't mind too much since I'm uploading them both the same night. I did remove some bits from the original (longer) chapter, but they will find their way into the next chapter - no worries! Now that Emma is here, things will get a little more complicated...

BPOV

I stood at my locker, pretending to busy myself with selecting my books and organizing my notes. I thought back to my conversation with Edward this morning. He was always so wrapped up in his own worries that it was hard for him to understand what everyone else was feeling. He could hear what they were thinking, of course, but that often put him at a disadvantage in understanding what they were _feeling. _For example, he knew Emmett was excited about the new prank, but he didn't understand that Emmett was focusing on the new prank so that he didn't have to focus on the fact that the Volturi had sent Nessie a present for her birthday three months ago. A diamond tiara – one that looked to be a part of the same set as the necklace they had sent me 35 years ago. And this, after we hadn't had any contact from them in almost seven years. Why now? We were all wondering, and when the gift had arrived we had several family conferences, but we had been unable to come to any conclusions, and Alice had been unable to see anything, and so we had decided to go about our lives, hyper aware, of course, but otherwise as usual. Without knowing what the threat was, there was nothing we could do. Emmett, being Emmett, thought the best way to distract us from mulling over the possibility of death or enlistment with the Volturi was to engage in manipulating the teenagers we spent our days with. I didn't disagree with him. Our pranks were harmless, we seldom chose to mess with innocents, and we were all still keenly attuned to anything out of the ordinary. There was nothing to be gained by sitting around waiting to die, thinking about losing our loved ones. And we couldn't hole up in some hideout and wait for them to find us. We had to keep living, and keep our spirits up, and that was why Emmett was so enthusiastic about these pranks. Well, one of the reasons. Also, he just loved a good prank, and he loved showing other boys that they would never have Rosalie.

Sighing, I took out my books for my first class and slammed my locker closed, using just a bit more force than I needed to. I headed down the hall toward my next class – American history with Alice – lost in my thoughts as I navigated my way through the throngs of students in the hallway. I was almost at the door to my classroom when I heard my name being called from somewhere behind me. At least, I could have sworn I heard my name being called. When I turned around, however, I saw no one. Well, actually, I saw a crowd of students, clustered together in groups, but none of them were looking at me, and none of them appeared to have called for me. I turned back and was beginning to walk toward my classroom when I heard it one more, it was unmistakable: my name, loud and clear, being called from behind me, to the right of the corridor. I turned again, this time more warily. I searched the hallway, but still, all I saw was a mass of teenagers, gathered together, gossiping, trading notes, hurrying to classes, watching each other. But this time, instead of turning away, I kept my eyes open and waited. Someone _was_ calling to me, and I would wait for them until they called again.

"Bella! Bella Swan! Bella Cullen!"

There was no mistaking it. The voice was crystal clear, smooth and soft, but loud enough for me to be sure that it was real, not a figment of my imagination. I followed the sound to its source and my eyes lit upon a slender girl, pale-skinned, dark-eyed, with silvery-blonde, pin-straight hair that fell almost to her waist. She was standing at the emergency exit, 20 yards down the hall from me. As soon as she saw my eyes meet hers, she nodded once and then slid away, out the door, so quickly that without my vampire senses I would have thought she had simply vanished into thin air. Without a second thought, I followed her.

APOV

I sat in class, mindlessly sketching a design for a cocktail dress for Esme and waiting for Bella to join me. She and Edward had stayed behind this morning to talk. He was struggling, and I knew only Bella could help him understand why we needed these light-hearted games. It was coming soon enough – the confrontation we dreaded – and we needed to keep our spirits up. I glanced at the clock and saw that we still had ten minutes until the bell rang signaling first period. I wondered how long Bella and Edward had talked; I was bored, and I wanted her to get here soon so that we could talk. I had an idea for a date she could take Edward on and I knew she'd be excited about it. I scanned her future quickly and saw her gathering her books from her locker and turning to walk down the hall toward our classroom. I focused on her wristwatch and saw that this was just three minutes from now. Excellent. She was almost here. I was just about to tune out of her future when I saw it. She stopped abruptly and looked behind her. I hadn't heard or seen anything, and I wasn't sure what had made her stop. She seemed to see nothing behind her, though, and started to walk again, but then stopped and turned once more. She stood, fixed in place, staring down the hallway. At what, I couldn't see. And then, just as she started to walk forwards – or rather, back the way she had come – she disappeared. I gasped aloud – several students turned to look at me.

"I'm sorry, I'm not well," I muttered quickly, gathering my books and racing out of the room.

_Edward!! EDWARD! You need to come now. Bella…she's…Bella's future just disappeared!_


	12. Where Bella Went

BPOV

I opened my eyes and sat up slowly. When had I passed out? I didn't know that vampires _could_ pass out – we couldn't sleep, after all. I had never been unconscious for a moment in all of my vampire life. But just now, I had undoubtedly passed out. I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the light and looked around. I was in the forest, that much was clear. And I wasn't being held against my will: My hands and feet were unbound, and there were no bars to confine me. That was comforting, and I felt somewhat calmer as I glanced about to ascertain my whereabouts. I found I was lying quite comfortably on a thick quilt, a soft pillow beneath my head and a wool blanket tucked around me. I looked up to see who had laid me here.

"I will not keep you here if you do not wish to stay." I still couldn't see her, but her voice rang out into the clearing, chiming as sweetly as church bells, conveying no threat at all. "I simply wanted to speak with you."

I looked around, trying to determine the origin of the voice, but I saw no one.

"Who are you?" I asked, softly, sitting up and pushing the blanket off of me.

"I am Lilliana."

"Lilliana," I breathed, hesitant but curious. "What are you?"

"Ahh. That is _the_ question," she said gently.

I held my breath, unsure what to expect.

A beam of bright white light shone down through the trees, shimmering in the cool shade of the forest. As it reached the ground, the light began to change shape. First it shrunk, so that it wasn't a long column of light, but rather a shorter ray, maybe four and a half feet. It thickened a bit and began to take on more definition. And in one blindingly bright flash, the transformation was complete. The light was gone, and before me stood a small, perfect woman, with long, silvery blonde, pin-straight hair, skin as pale as mine, eyes jet-black, darker than mine had ever been even when I hadn't fed for days. She was wearing a green shift dress, very simple, but fitted enough to demonstrate the slightness of her figure. She wasn't simply slender, she was bird-boned, petite – more than petite – in every way. And as she walked toward me, her face broke into the most radiant expression of joy I had ever seen. I knew we had our enemies, me and my family, but I trusted this woman. Something deep in my gut told me that she would not harm me, us, that she meant us well.

"Hello Bella," she said softly, sitting down on the blanket facing me and crossing her legs beneath her. Her skin seemed to glow, not sparkle, the way mine might have if we had been sitting in sunlight, but actually glow, like there was a light emanating from within her, a warm, golden light.

"But what are you?" I asked again.

"We'll get to that. You have nothing to be afraid of here with me. If you wish to leave you may do so at any time. But I have some information that I believe will be helpful to you and your family. And, indeed, I have reason to believe that you and your family might be able to be helpful to me, if you should so choose."

"You weren't the one I saw at school," I said slowly. Their resemblance was remarkable, but the girl who had called to me in the hall had been younger, slightly taller, and her hair hadn't been quite as long. Neither had she glowed, or at least, not as strongly as the woman sitting in front of me now.

"No, you are right. That was my daughter, Emma. It is easier for her to blend in with the human world, and I asked her to bring you to me. She has gone back to the school to talk to your family, but you will meet her again soon.

"What did she do to me? I mean, she didn't harm me, I know, but I've never lost consciousness before."

"And I am sorry for that. It was the only way I could get you here alone. You are much stronger than either Emma or me, and I didn't know if you would come willingly. I told her to use a small spell on you. It simply put your mind to sleep and allowed her to lead your body here."

"You put a spell on me?!" I said, rather more loudly than I had intended. I could feel the anger begin to rise from my stomach, could feel my shield flex around me, but then I looked across at the woman before me and saw nothing but kindness and remorse in her eyes. She wasn't here to harm me, and she was right, I would not have come willingly.

"I am sorry Bella. It is not something I was happy about, but I desperately needed to meet with you, and this was the best way."

"You say your daughter is going to talk with my family. What is she going to tell them?"

"She will tell them whom we are, that we intend no harm, but rather that we come in peace, seeking help from you and offering our help in return. She will not tell them any details, but she will allow your sister Alice to regain her sight long enough to see that she speaks the truth."

"She can block Alice's sight?"

"Not exactly. Creatures like Emma and I have a natural defense against the powers of others. Sort of like the Quileute shapeshifters. But more effective. We are shielded from Alice's sight, and from Edward's and Jasper's gifts as well. But we have control over our defense. We can choose to make ourselves vulnerable to the gifts of others, if we so choose. Right now Alice is unable to see you because you are with me. I have you contained within my aura. Emma will let me know when the time is right, and both she and I will retract our auras, allowing Alice's vision to operate without impediments. Then Alice will be able to see not only you, but Emma and me as well."

"Okay, I suppose I can believe that. I still want to know exactly what you are."

"I'm sure you have some guesses," she said, smiling.

"I do, but I'm afraid they are sort of – well, very – foolish. Parts of what I know about you fit and others don't."

"As is always the way with mythological creatures. There have been so many distortions introduced by humans over the centuries."

"Would you like me to guess?" I asked, praying she would say no.

"If you want to, but I'm happy to just tell you." I nodded eagerly at that, and she continued: "I am one of the Fey. A fairy, if you like."

"Hmm. I see. Well, that still leaves quite a lot for you to explain. There are more stories, more contradicting facts about fairies than almost any other mythical creature I can think of."

"That's true, and it's no coincidence. We've been very careful to plant and shape our legend in a way that would hide us from humans but allow us to go about our business. No one outside of our clan, our race, knows the truth about us. But I _will_ tell you what we are and a bit about what we do, what our powers are, and then I will tell you our reason for visiting you and revealing ourselves like this. If you and your family agree to work with us, which I hope you will -- and I have reason to believe I will not be disappointed -- we will have plenty of time to get to know each other better."

"I can agree with that," I said, feeling confident and hopeful, though I didn't know exactly what my family would think of the deal I had made.

"Okay, well…"


End file.
